I am a 17-year-old African-American male. This scholarship would make all the difference in the world to me. I have been dedicated to sports since I was around five years old maybe even earlier than that, and I’ve always been looked at to have the “wow”factor on the field now my aim is for the “wow” factor in the classroom. I am an only child so spending a lot of time with family and friends certainly has made it easier with having no siblings, but I’ve lotta my brothers I’ve met and found on the field. My dream is to be in the NFL. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that the NFL might not be my path, but something definitely supporting sports like sports broadcasting, and digital media has definitely crept up to be my focus. I have always had a lot of friends with diverse backgrounds have always been able to get along with everyone. In my freshman year we moved so that I could go to a better school and being one of very few African-American student at a predominantly white high school, some things have gotten tougher, my white friends, even though I love them, have sometimes disappointed and hurt me. Let me explain, even though we’re “cool”sometimes they may take things too far. The small jokes, the anonymous notes certainly made me feel anole. With my close friends being able to have those conversations, and being open and also allowing them to be open has certainly helped, but I’ve also taken a huge participation in diversity and inclusion at our high school. I have forced people look at each other for who they are, always making sure they know that words hurt. As an African-American young man I try my best to present black people in the best possible light as there is still so much negativity surrounding us. I visit our middle school to speak with the kids, and I’m able to take a day of the week, and again just talk to them about always being respectful of each other and people around them no matter who they are, I am also a Christian, so this is just piggybacks on everything I believe in. I was voted the first African-American homecoming king at my high school, which is a huge success in the process. The culture there is changing not with just athletes, but also with students. I want to continue to grow in the classroom, but African-American people are fast, we can dance, we can sing, but we’re smart too. We are engineers, scientists we are doctors and I want to continue my education in media.