Hello! I'm Hisham, a seventeen-year-old with dreams and aspirations that shoot for the stars. Throughout my teenage years, I have faced several hardships, but perhaps the most formidable challenge is moving from one country to another. In 2018, my family and I moved from Dubai to Lebanon -our home country. What could go wrong? I thought to myself, I'm going back home. The next thing I knew, I was overwhelmed with developing a new network again, adapting to the lifestyle, and updating my "norms" to "match" the ones of the community. Sooner or later, a nationwide financial crisis struck, and our family's funds were stuck in the banks due to governmental corruption. But I knew this was just the beginning of something beautiful, perhaps a blessing in disguise. My grandfather owned a tool shop where I saw potential; going digital, and that's where it started. I worked hard to develop my marketing and digitization skills to fire up the business again, and in a matter of a few months, I was able to bring sales back up, enough to support my family for the following months. I also decided to pursue my innovative idea of clothes, which ended up being a good buzz in the youth community around the country, and an opportunity to employ local producers (who were at the time, about to go bankrupt because of diminished amounts of work). Fast forward to 2022, the situation in Lebanon had gotten worse and is still getting worse as of today. My parents had taken into account that my collegial journey was bound to begin and that they can't risk my future. Soon enough, the next step -the only solution- was to move out in any way possible, as soon as possible. In a matter of a couple of months, my family, and I ended up in the United States. With compromises that we've never imagined. Regardless of being away from home and adapting to a whole new environment (once again), I had to prepare for college -no room for error. As the first day of school came by (for me, which was three weeks later than the rest), I strived and excel, making the best out of what I had, just like I always did. Perfection, I thought, no other way. Moreover, I saw an opportunity to work on myself for these few months before college. From a book a week to a hobby instrument, I've found something to work on and improve at doing. I'm always either reading a book -expanding my knowledge, taking an online course, or jamming on my guitar. Thank you for reading and kind consideration -being awarded this scholarship will unimaginably aid me.

Hi, my name is Hisham! I'm pleased to be telling you about my favorite characteristic; understanding others (leadership). I'm a person who has resided in three countries to this day; the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, and now, the United States! People have always been my strength; I've always been able to do great with a diverse body of people and develop a special relationship with anyone. Being able to understand people is something really valuable, it has countless benefits... One of which is the ability to be an efficient, unanimous leader. When you have a connection with others, trust builds unconsciously, therefore allowing me to become a leader of large groups of people. Being a leader does not mean being the "boss". On the contrary, it means being a person who puts the ones around them's interests before theirs. Therefore, creating a beautiful and friendly ambiance for productive work. A second which comes to mind is amazing results. Let's set this straight; great advances on earth always occur when different people work together. Different individuals with different beliefs and values tackle a task more efficiently than others with similar core beliefs. Why is that? That is because different people, having had different experiences throughout their lives, provide different insights and implement new, alternative ways of thinking that a group of commons could never come up with. This quality will aid me in moving toward the future as I prepare for my collegial life and post-education career in multiple ways. Firstly, it will allow me to put together miraculous groups of diverse, unique people together. Many college classrooms look as if students were divided into "same people" sections; this jeopardizes students' opportunities of exploring others. Having leadership will help me link these different people together and expose them to diversity, expanding their knowledge and network. Moreover, being a leader, embracing leadership, and implementing will help me reach executive positions in the future and ultimately lead startups to create the next "big hits". The world is full of amazing, kind, generous, smart, and intelligent people. The real issue is putting together amazing minds to create change and leading them to a common vision and a single end goal; make the world a better place! Thank you very much for reading my essay and for your kind consideration for this scholarship, winning this scholarship would make a big contribution toward my secondary education...