My name is India Myers, I am a senior at Orrick High School. This summer I am going to start a ten month cosmetology program. My goal is to become a licensed cosmetologist. I have a passion for helping people. My junior year of high school I did a Vo-Tech program in order to get my CNA license. I loved getting to visit with my residents and help them feel better about themselves. People in nursing homes are not always taken care of the best and I loved getting to help them clean themselves up, and just feel a little more put together than normal. People don’t just stop caring about their looks. People want to look good, they want to feel good. I want to help people feel comfortable in their own skin. I want to create an environment where people can become more confident. Beauty is not what is on the outside, it is what is on the inside. Beauty comes from within, but when people do not feel good about themselves or have the confidence to be themselves you can’t see what is on the inside. I hope I can become a stylist that can help people become the most confident versions of themselves. After I graduate and receive my cosmetology license I plan on enrolling in a barber crossover program. This is a two week program that will allow me to have two licenses and practice a wider range of skills. After completing the barber crossover program, I plan on renting a booth from a salon owner to gain more experience. I hope that during this time I will be able to develop a personal style in order to set me apart from other stylists. This will also allow me to build my clientele. During my time renting a booth, I plan on enrolling in an online business program in order to receive my associates degree in business. My end goal is to open my own salon one day. I believe I am a good candidate for this scholarship because I plan on furthering my education beyond more than one program. I am a hard worker and dedicated student. I am a straight A student. I am the secretary for our school’s chapter of the National Honor Society. I am a part of the Vocational Society, and a student council member. I also qualified for the A+ program, which is a tutoring program. I go to a fourth grade classroom and tutor kids. I have played sports all throughout high school as well. I recently just got Academic All State for Cheer leading. I have been able to balance all of these extra curricular activities, and still maintain straight A’s not only in my high school classes, but all of my dual credit college classes. I am willing to commit, and dedicate my time to mastering my skills and working towards my goals. One person I admire is my mom. She is a hard worker, and has dedicated her life to helping others. She has always worked towards her goals, and keeps furthering her education to master her skills and become the best version of herself. She started off as a CNA, then later got her LPN, and is now working on her RN. She is such an inspiring person, and taught me it doesn't matter how old you are you can always learn more. I was scared to do cosmetology, that if I didn’t go to college I couldn’t be successful. She proved me wrong and gave me the confidence to pursue my passion.

Reading is something I have gotten into in high school. Reading allows you to live multiple lives through the characters in the books. Reading has been an escape for me, and allowed me to decompress after a long day. Through reading I have learned many valuable lessons. Even in silly little romance books there is always a lesson that can be learned. I enjoy reading multiple genres. If I had to narrow it down my top three favorite genres would have to be thrillers, romance, and biographies. Each genre I read usually has a generic lesson that can be seen through many books of the same genre. Reading allows you to live a thousand lives within your lifetime. Why not take advantage of that and use the valuable lessons, taught to the characters, and apply them to your own life. I love reading a good thriller. The suspense, the mystery, the horror all of these aspects put me on the edge of my seat and implore me to read more. Thrillers have many good lessons that can be taken from them. A big theme seen in thriller books is that trust has to be earned. Someone always betrays a character or turns out to be the killer. These people dive right into relationships and always end up with the short end of the stick. I have applied this to my own life. I have started setting up better boundaries, and getting to know people better before building a relationship with them. The themes found within these books have really shaped my goals of future relationships. Romance books have so many good lessons to learn. People dismiss romance books so quickly, but they truly can have a deeper meaning. A lesson I have learned from many books of this genre is that communication is key. So many books I have read the characters' relationship has come to a standstill or ruined due to lack of good communication. It is so frustrating to read a book where the characters can’t communicate with one another. I have improved my communication skills greatly by simply thinking about if I have read something similar in a book or not. For example, when I get mad at my boyfriend or not I know to stop and think about if I’m overreacting or if this is a serious problem we need to talk through. I don’t just blow up or shut down any more. Books have taught me more valuable lessons than most people have. Biographies for me can be a hit or miss. Some of them I love, some I wish I could get my time back. I feel that reading biographies is important. It tells a story of another person's life. A real life experience, and a real account of what happened. You might not always be able to relate to the people around you, but you might be able to find a story similar to yours through a biography. I think it’s great that more people are sharing their experiences, and allowing people to learn from their mistakes, or simply just feel some comfort that they aren’t the only ones. Books have had such an impact on me. They have been an escape from the real world, and taught me many valuable lessons. My goals for relationships, future goals, and much more have changed since I’ve started reading. Reading has set expectations for my future and the people I want in my life, and the goals I want to achieve.

Growing up in a low-income family has come with its hardships, especially when there are five kids. We didn't always have the money to eat out, the nicest clothes, money for school activities, and sports; but we were always taken care of though due to my mothers hard work. She was a great role model growing up, she always picked up extra shifts, made sure we were taken care of first, and just made sure we were extremely loved. Having her as a role model really shaped the work ethic I have today. When I turned 14 I got a job at a local ice cream shop. I saved up all of my money I made over the summer to buy Christmas presents for my whole family. I was so proud of what I had accomplished through my own merit. I've continued to work all throughout high school, I am a waitress at a mom and pop diner now. I have been saving up money for college the past two years. My goals as of now are to attend a university and study photography. I love how creative art allows me to be, and I hope to make it as a photographer one day. Working through high school has allowed me to save money in order to pay for photography equipment, editing software, and additional expenses. I have had to rely on myself throughout high school to pay for things such as sports equipment, class shirts, and any extra things I've wanted. This has been challenging considering I am a full time student. Going to college is going to be difficult simply for the fact that paying for college is difficult. I have had straight A's all throughout high school, am part of many honor societies, and student government. I also have done sports such as cheer, volleyball and track. While also working. It is safe to say I can apply myself on whatever I set my mind to. Although, having to have a job while in college sets up its own unique challenges. College is expensive, classes are harder, and overall it is very time consuming. This will prove to be difficult while trying to work in order to pay for things such as books and equipment. That is why I have been spending much of my time applying for scholarships in order to help reduce the cost. I have spent time studying for my ACT in order to get scholarships as well. As much as I am stressed about the cost of college, I will always put my school work first and apply myself to my classes. Like I have previously mentioned I have worked hard all throughout high school. I have applied to 3 different colleges so far and have, thankfully, been accepted to all of them. I am looking forward to college and being able to pursue something I am passionate about. Although it may come with its challenges I am ready for whatever the next 4 years have to throw my way.