My name is Gavin Kennedy, I’m from the Englewood neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois and a recent graduate of Simeon Career Academy, Class of 2025, where I proudly participated in both Football and Track & Field. Growing up in Englewood, some days were full of fun and childhood joy like playing outside with friends, walking to the candy store, or heading to the school courts to play basketball. But other days were filled with tragedy, surrounded by violence and the weight of negative energy in the community. Despite those challenges, I’ve always tried to stay focused and hopeful. As a kid I wasn’t always sure what I wanted to be. At one point, I dreamed of becoming a professional wrestler like John Cena or Randy Orton. As I got older, my dreams slowly started to change. I began to consider other career paths like a doctor, a police officer, a firefighter, and even a teacher. But through all the changes, teaching always stuck with me. I started tutoring in sixth grade, helping other students after school under the supervision of our dean. Math was a subject many of them struggled with, and it became clear to me that I could use my strength in math to help others succeed. I also took on a deeper role at home. After my brother passed away in a car accident in 2017, his son was born in a couple of months after in 2018, and I stepped up as a mentor helping him with school and setting an example for him to follow. As seventh grade started it was smooth until COVID-19 hit, Nevertheless I continued to tutor online through Zoom, supporting classmates who were falling behind or struggling to understand the work. Through my time in high school I spent my summers giving back to the community through various jobs and volunteer opportunities. Each year, I participated in programs that focused on improving the neighborhoods around me meaning I was cleaning up local parks like, Ogden Park and Washington park, painting houses, and volunteering at summer camps. I also gained valuable experience working at daycares, where I helped care for and guide and entertained children from ages of six through twelve. These experiences have not only taught me the importance of hard work and responsibility, but also help deepen a desire to help make a positive change on the world and in my community. Making a positive impact on others lives also put a smile on my face. Giving my time to support and uplift my community has shaped my passion for education and my goal of becoming a teacher and future school leader. I am proud to say that this fall, I will be attending Clark Atlanta University as a first generation college student. Coming from a low income family, this opportunity is truly a dream come true and I plan on not taking it for granted either. I will be majoring in Elementary Education, with the goal of becoming a math teacher so I can give back the same support, guidance, inspiration, and knowledge that my past teachers, staff members, coaches, and mentors once gave me. Eventually, I hope to open my own school and serve as a principal, creating a supportive environment where every student especially students who come from low income families like me can find a way to thrive and dream big just as I was growing up.

On October 28, 2017, my life changed forever. That was the day my brother passed away due to a tragic combination of drug use and a car accident. Losing him was not only heartbreaking but also it was almost world shattering to me. Mentally and emotionally, I felt like I was drowning. it felt like I was slowing becoming depressed, withdrawn from the outside world , and numb to a lot of things around me that would usually upset or hurt me. I didn’t want to do anything dealing with school and I honestly felt like school wasn’t it for me. The grief was overwhelming really overpowering me and for a long time, it felt like I was just going through the motions of life at this point. before my brother left he also gave us one final gift which was my nephew born March 28, 2018 As I struggled to heal, his son became a new reason to keep going. I knew I had to be someone he could look up to, just like I had looked up to my brother. Over the years, l've helped him with school, learning, and growing up overall without his father and in that, I discovered something unexpected I grew a passion for helping others, especially through teaching. What made it even harder was how close we were. My brother wasn’t just family, he was also like another one of my role models. He had a natural energy and love for sports baseball being his favorite , this was something that defined him throughout elementary, middle and high school and . For a while, thinking about the things he loved only made the pain worse. But slowly, I realized that I could either stay stuck grieving his passing or find a way to honor him through how I live my life. Going into high school Sports wasn’t an interest of mines but thinking about how I could make my own legacy through sports like my brother could have made me rethink my choices. Freshman year I thought about it long and hard I didn’t join any teams my freshman year but I did make a decision my sophomore year that would change my life. I decided that I was going to pick up sports something that he loved and was very dear to him. At first to me , this was just a way to feel close or connected to him again. But over time, sports became my outlet, my therapy, and eventually, a core part of my identity. almost everyone knew me because of me joining the football team. The discipline, focus, and teamwork involved gave me also gave me sense of purpose again and helped me rebuild my confidence as well. of course it didn’t fully take the pain away but it did give me a way to cope and process it and grow stronger from it. From this experience, I learned that healing isn’t about forgetting the pain. But it was about transforming it into something meaningful. Making my mental and emotional health a priority meant facing my grief, not running from it. It meant finding healthy ways to cope, surround myself with support, and redefine what strength looks like. This fall I will be attending Clark Atlanta University majoring in Elementary education hoping to be a positive impact in other children’s lives as I was to my nephew and giving back the information I retained from my past teachers, Coaches and other Staff members.

I am interested in pursuing a career in education because I love helping people in addition I love to educate children/people. I used to be a tutor at the elementary school I graduated from. I tutored children in math in the after school program for two years. Teaching is my life besides spending quality time with my family. I enjoy teaching others. Teaching other people gives me a peace of mind. It make me feel like I have did a positive and productive job. It also makes me feel like I am a super hero in a way when I help teach children and the results of their grades changes from the extra help and persistence from their math tutor. I am here to save the children from failing in their math subject. What I’ve noticed about students is that when learning math they are either confused or they just can’t comprehend and understand the formulas of what needs to be done to get the answers. My elementary math teacher that I had from six to eighth grade middle school. Her is Ms. Sarauw, she is the with grade teacher and the math teacher for middle school at Anna R Langford, located in Chicago, IL south side Englewood area. She has been a teacher for over 25 years and she knows how to get a class pumping with excitement to learn. When she teaches she makes you feel very comfortable and she also lets you know that you are not alone. She breaks math down from the rooter to the tooter. She picks it apart so that you can start from the beginning of what ever math it is and go through step by step with you. She is the reason that I would like to become a math teacher after I graduate from Clark Atlanta University in four years. She gave me that drive and inspiration of my career goal. I use to want to be a Professional Wrestler when I was younger, but after spending three years with Ms. Sarauw, my elementary math and eighth grade teacher. My goals shifted and changed to something more meaningful. Wrestling is entertainment, I would like to help educate people. That is what I would like to be remembered for being a great teacher that understood his students going above and beyond any means to reach out and help a student to become something great in life. All children need to know how to read, write , and count. Counting is a math material that is used in everyday life. Knowing how to do some math I think will get a person a little further in life and I say that to say, people won’t be able to cheat you out your money or any purchases that has to do with any type of math like percentages. When a child grows older and make a big purchase like a car or home, they would need to know how to calculate the purchase especially if it has something added or taken off. Math could be frustrating to some, I’m going to be that teacher to take the frustration and anxiety away and assure you that you can do anything you put your mind to.

I plan to use my education/degree to enhance the African-American community by becoming an educator and teach at a school in a low income area in the city where I am from. I currently reside in a neighborhood by the name of Englewood, which is a low income area located in the city on the south side of Chicago, IL. My parents and I were born in this area and have lived in the Englewood community my entire life. My plan is to go back to my own community in Englewood after graduating with a master’s degree in education from Clark Atlanta University, which is the school that I am committed to, have also been accepted to and will be attending in the fall of 2025. I plan to become a math teacher. I would like to earn my master’s degree in education further my education to a doctorate degree and one day become a principal of a school. I feel that low income neighborhood schools in the city of Chicago, don’t have what a suburban school in Chicago would have and that is better teachers/educators and resources. Teachers are scared and afraid to go to certain neighborhoods in the Chicago areas and unfortunately Englewood is one of the areas that people do not like coming to work in. I would be a willing participant to go to a school in that area but I really would like to come back to Chicago and work at my old elementary school. That is one of the ways that I would give back from earning my degree/education. I enjoy helping kids but my passion is teaching kids how to do math. Math is my favorite subject and I really enjoy problem solving and finding solutions. I think I would be a great teacher because, I help tutor kids at my old elementary school in an after school program for two years. Kids that had trouble in math had improved through the school year with me tutoring them in the after school program. The program was for four days a week Mon-Thursday, 3:30-4:30. I am a seventeen year old boy that has been an honor student my whole life including high school. I have patience and teaching kids/people to problem solve and understand formulas is a blessing. A lot of people when it comes to math are just scared thinking their answers are incorrect or really they don’t understand the process and formulas of how you got that answer. Math is a subject that if you can count, you can learn the different formulas of figuring the solution out could be useful and interesting. Math can also be very fun to learn. This is another thing about math, you can make it so enjoyable to learn and do. Getting closer to senior year thinking about what college I would like to attend. I have always wanted to attend an HBCU, so when narrowing down to applying CAU was calling me. I applied and was accepted to attend Clark Atlanta University in the fall of 2025, I will be the first in my family of my mother’s children to graduate from high school and attend college. I have three other siblings one is younger than I am. I am one of the middle children. The third child out of four and out of three boys I would also be the youngest and first to graduate high school and attend college. My giving back would not only be for my African American community, but it would also be for my parents/family.

As a child, I wanted to become a Professional Wrestler. I admired the muscles, the stunts, and the excitement of the crowd cheering, screaming and just going wild as a fan. I use to have dreams and wake up saying to myself, that will be me one day. A crowd will cheer and scream for me. I would become the heavy weight champion of the world one day. Then, one day came as we had a career fair in elementary school that changed my entire perspective of a career choice in life, and let me tell you, I realized that wrestling wasn’t for me and that it would only be and stay entertainment in my world. I understood that it’s a sport and just like any other sport you can be injured in ways that can affect your physical health. I have been watching wrestling from the age of five until my current age seventeen. Now my career goals and dreams are bigger than being a Professional Wrestler or becoming the heavy weight champion of the world. I would like to become a math teacher and help children learn. I fell in love with math as I became older working with my elementary school teachers. Math became my peace of mind. My biggest joy about math is finding the solutions to the problems. I would like to teach children how to do math problem solving. I’ve noticed in classes that I’ve had over the years, that students are either confused or scared thinking their answer might be incorrect, so they won’t say anything. I’m a quiet student/person myself, so I observe a lot of things that people does and say. That is why I know in my heart that I would be an awesome math teacher or educator. I have been accepted to Clark Atlanta University, in which I plan on attending in the fall of 2025. After graduating from college. I would like to come back to Chicago and give back to my community and work at a school in the area that I am from. I would love to work at the elementary or high school I attended and graduated from, but really my mind is set on going to a school that is in the Englewood area. I choose this particular area for wanting to teach because this is where my parents and I am from and I know children in that area need good educators and people that understands them and where they come from. I think once I get my credentials to educate. I would work at any school as long as it is in the Englewood area in Chicago, IL.