As a young Black woman, I have always had aspirations of being and wanting more for myself and my family. At a young age, I had an understanding that I wanted to help in any capacity that I could imagine. That imagination leads me into wanting to become a pediatrician. There was something about being able to help and assist children that led me in that direction. However, once getting into undergrad I soon learned that my working with children would not be in a medical sense, but in education. In undergrad, I gained more insight into education through my sociology classes. Specifically, it was with one class, in particular, Sociology of Education, that I learned about inequities that I did not know existed simply being a student in the classroom. As a student, you do not truly understand what is going on behind the scenes that create the educational experiences that you have whether good or bad. I took what I learned in this particular course as well as many other courses and began teaching. In the classroom, I was able to learn more about what it meant to cater to each student's needs. We have heard this before but is something that cannot be said enough, education is not one size fits all. Each student comes in with different needs, different outside factors, and much more that deserves to be known and worked with individually and accordingly. Much of my time in the classroom was spent doing just that, working to meet the needs of my students. Being in the classroom can have its financial strain wanting to spend money on the things you feel will better serve your students. Any time I saw something that looked beneficial I made sure to get it because it would mean that much more to my students. After a few years in the classroom and realizing I wanted to do more for my students I pursued my Masters in Educational Leadership. With this degree, I would then be able to move into leadership and make a bigger impact on deserving students. Taking on another degree would then mean having to take on more student loan debt; however, wanting and being more for myself and my family also turned into wanting and being more for my students. I am happy to take on the debt knowing that I becoming a better person for those I care about. Now with my Master's and a step closer to leadership as an instructional coach, I am pursuing a Ph.D. in Education Policy. Thinking back to what brought me to the classroom in the first place was learning of inequity. Throughout my career, I have seen and faced inequity working in urban school districts. Many of these inequities exist due to poor policy and practice. It is my goal to continue working to improve myself so that I can improve inequitable systems for students that are the most underserved. Having this scholarship will assist relieve some of the financial burdens I have taken on in the mission of improvement. However, stating again, I am happy to take on the debt knowing that I am becoming a better person for those I care about. I have a passion for students and a passion for the education system. I will do what needs to be done to improve it.

I have always had aspirations of being and wanting more for myself and my family. At a young age, I had an understanding that I wanted to help in any capacity that I could imagine. That imagination leads me into wanting to become a pediatrician. There was something about being able to help and assist children that led me in that direction. However, once getting into undergrad I soon learned that my working with children would not be in a medical sense, but in education. In undergrad, I gained more insight into education through my sociology classes. Specifically, it was with one class, in particular, Sociology of Education, that I learned about inequities that I did not know existed simply being a student in the classroom. As a student, you do not truly understand what is going on behind the scenes that create the educational experiences that you have whether good or bad. I took what I learned in this particular course as well as many other courses and began teaching. In the classroom, I was able to learn more about what it meant to cater to each student's needs. We have heard this before but is something that cannot be said enough, education is not one size fits all. Each student comes in with different needs, different outside factors, and much more that deserves to be known and worked with individually and accordingly. Much of my time in the classroom was spent doing just that, working to meet the needs of my students. Being in the classroom can have its financial strain wanting to spend money on the things you feel will better serve your students. Any time I saw something that looked beneficial I made sure to get it because it would mean that much more to my students. After a few years in the classroom and realizing I wanted to do more for my students I pursued my Masters in Educational Leadership. With this degree, I would then be able to move into leadership and make a bigger impact on deserving students. Taking on another degree would then mean having to take on more student loan debt; however, wanting and being more for myself and my family also turned into wanting and being more for my students. I am happy to take on the debt knowing that I becoming a better person for those I care about. Now with my Master's and a step closer to leadership as an instructional coach, I am pursuing a Ph.D. in Education Policy. Thinking back to what brought me to the classroom in the first place was learning of inequity. Throughout my career, I have seen and faced inequity working in urban school districts. Many of these inequities exist due to poor policy and practice. It is my goal to continue working to improve myself so that I can improve inequitable systems for students that are the most underserved. The impact I hope to make through education is to develop a policy that benefits all students, a policy that will focus on school improvement. Much of my interest is centered around school closures and their impact on Black and Brown students. With a policy that focuses on school improvement, we can work toward improving school systems as opposed to closing schools and displacing students.

As a young Black woman, I have always had aspirations of being and wanting more for myself and my family. At a young age, I had an understanding that I wanted to help in any capacity that I could imagine. That imagination leads me into wanting to become a pediatrician. There was something about being able to help and assist children that led me in that direction. However, once getting into undergrad I soon learned that my working with children would not be in a medical sense, but in education. In undergrad, I gained more insight into education through my sociology classes. Specifically, it was with one class, in particular, Sociology of Education, that I learned about inequities that I did not know existed simply being a student in the classroom. As a student, you do not truly understand what is going on behind the scenes that create the educational experiences that you have whether good or bad. I took what I learned in this particular course as well as many other courses and began teaching. In the classroom, I was able to learn more about what it meant to cater to each student's needs. We have heard this before but is something that cannot be said enough, education is not one size fits all. Each student comes in with different needs, different outside factors, and much more that deserves to be known and worked with individually and accordingly. Much of my time in the classroom was spent doing just that, working to meet the needs of my students. Being in the classroom can have its financial strain wanting to spend money on the things you feel will better serve your students. Any time I saw something that looked beneficial I made sure to get it because it would mean that much more to my students. After a few years in the classroom and realizing I wanted to do more for my students I pursued my Masters in Educational Leadership. With this degree, I would then be able to move into leadership and make a bigger impact on deserving students. Taking on another degree would then mean having to take on more student loan debt; however, wanting and being more for myself and my family also turned into wanting and being more for my students. I am happy to take on the debt knowing that I becoming a better person for those I care about. Now with my Master's and a step closer to leadership as an instructional coach, I am pursuing a Ph.D. in Education Policy. Thinking back to what brought me to the classroom in the first place was learning of inequity. Throughout my career, I have seen and faced inequity working in urban school districts. Many of these inequities exist due to poor policy and practice. It is my goal to continue working to improve myself so that I can improve inequitable systems for students that are the most underserved. Having this scholarship will assist relieve some of the financial burdens I have taken on in the mission of improvement. However, stating again, I am happy to take on the debt knowing that I am becoming a better person for those I care about. I have a passion for students and a passion for the education system. I will do what needs to be done to improve it.