During my late teens and early twenties I learned an important lesson on leadership. It was something that came up several times and it was during a church service that I was able to connect all the dots. The basic lesson is this: we are all leaders. No matter what your profession is or how you feel about yourself, you are a leader to someone. There will always be someone in your life who follows your example, seeks your guidance, or notices the things you do and imitates them. The most important thing we can do with that is to live out a good example in everything we do. In high school, I was only really aware of my friends and classmates. In my mind, the other students had no idea who I was and knew nothing about me. I ignorantly believed I was anonymous and that my life and choices had no impact on people I did not know. A few years after I graduated from high school, I had an unexpected encounter at the grocery store that prompted a change in my thinking. One afternoon, I was collecting my bags after checking out and a bagger approached me. He said he knew who I was and that my computer aided drafting projects in school were still inspiring students. This caught me off guard since I had no idea who he was, but it also made me feel pretty good. The next bit of information he shared about me left me speechless. He proceeded to tell me that my partying habits during high school were legendary. I definitely partied but with people much older than me. As far as I could tell at the time, nobody from my school would have known about it. This revelation left me feeling embarrassed. My actions in high school were my way of escaping the broken relationship I had with my parents. Although I made poor decisions, they were my decisions. The things I did and the consequences of them were not meant for anyone else. That young man clearly looked up to me and he seemed much more excited about my partying habits than the work I did in class. It crushed me to realize I was setting a poor example. Until then, I only believed my actions were noticed by those who personally knew me. Just a couple years later I found myself in a church, listening to a message on leadership. I am unable to recall all of the message, but the portion about integrity stuck out. Integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is watching. The basic lesson from that is we build habits out of our actions. Building a habit of doing bad behind closed doors can spill out into all of our actions. My experience at that grocery store taught me that even when we think nobody is watching, someone could be. Despite the intent of our actions or our willingness to accept consequences to poor decisions, we all have people who look up to us. It could be a younger coworker, sibling, child, or a friend. We all have areas in our lives where we feel we need guidance and we instinctively look to those around us. How we perceive ourselves has no bearing on it. We could feel like absolute failures who do nothing right. We may want nothing to do with leadership. We may even feel the things we do are of no importance. No matter how insignificant we may feel, there will always be someone who notices us.

My name is Jesus Lubnow and my two children are 13 and 10 years old. Becoming a parent changes everything in an instant and the changes do not stop after your first child is born. As children grow the changes keep coming. In order to raise a child, parents need to become a new, better version of themselves. Children rely on their parents to provide for them physically, emotionally, and financially. We are in no way required to provide our children with all of their physical desires, but we at least need the financial means to fulfill their basic needs. This basic provision for family is what inspired me to return to college. Shortly after my wife and I were married, I took a position with a small engineering firm that paid well enough for our needs at the time. The job also provided opportunities for promotions and raises, which prompted my decision not to complete my degree. Even after welcoming our first and second child, my job still provided fairly well, but it became evident that I would need to explore other opportunities. A growing family means growing children and my children have not just grown physically, but in their interests and pursuits. Providing financially is only part of it, though. Being physically present and providing for our children’s emotional needs is also important. My wife and I absolutely want the best for our children. We take an active approach to parenting and are present and available to our children whenever they need us. This is something we do not want to change. I began looking for jobs that fit our family: close to home, no late nights, decent vacation time and sick leave. Maybe my expectations were too high, but my family is the reason I go to work. We work to fund our lives. Our jobs should not be our lives. As I ventured out into the job market, it was just a stream of rejection. Despite having a great skill set and years of experience, hiring managers are not willing to take a chance on me because I lack a degree. I chose to complete my degree with Colorado State University - Global Campus so that I could finish my education but not be constantly away from my family. As a father, I do not want my children to know when we are going through financial rough patches. We have had a few of them and are experiencing one at the moment. No child should have to worry about that. I want my children to feel financially secure and I want to teach them financial responsibility. Above all, I want to pay for their college education so they will not be forced to choose between work and school as I did. For me, returning to school is 100% for my family. My goal is to make a significant career change in order to provide for my family and give them every advantage I did not have.

My name is Jesus Lubnow and I am a 38-year-old husband and father of two. My family and I live in Southeast Michigan. I am nearly finished with a bachelor’s degree in IT with a focus on project management. As I wrap up my schooling, life is starting to slow down. Outside of school I work full-time, coach science olympiad, and volunteer a lot. My current volunteering includes acting as a webmaster, Google Workspace admin, cameraman, and Sunday school teacher at my church. I also volunteer at school events for my children and for the organization Families Exploring Down Syndrome (FEDS). In my early 20’s I was fortunate enough to get a decent paying job with plenty of opportunity to move up and expand my skills. My work schedule took over and I left college without finishing. Since then I have found my prospects for changing careers have been limited. Even though I have many desirable skills, employers still look for applicants with a degree. I decided to go back to school in my late 30’s and finish college. My short-term goal is to finally gain the interviews I deserve and begin a rewarding career. In addition to landing a new career, I would love to use my degree for public service. I currently operate a small church ministry that refurbishes used computers then gives them to families in need. This effort serves two purposes with the first being a means of providing basic computing to curb the “digital divide.” Children and their parents deserve to have the educational benefits of word processing, internet access, and digital education tools. The second purpose of this ministry is to prevent harmful digital waste from ending up in landfills. All equipment we receive that is not usable or repairable, is ethically recycled. I call this ministry the Computer Pantry and would love to expand it to help more communities and offer common-sense lessons in computing to students and other nonprofit organizations. Most people see computers as an expense. The hardware and software cost money. Many vendors have switched to subscription models where software and services are only available for a monthly fee. For struggling families, even basic computing is largely inaccessible, but there are so many free resources out there that people are just not aware of. The same applies for nonprofit organizations who rely on donations to keep operations running. The solutions necessary to keep those organizations running have free and cheap options, but not everyone knows where to look. While I did pursue this degree later in life to benefit my family and improve my prospects, I want to also use it to give others any advantage I can offer them. I would like to close by saying that this scholarship would greatly bless my family. In late 2019 my father-in-law passed away. My wife and I spent the three years previous to that taking care of him physically and financially. We are still paying off his medical debts and are now faced with my student loans. The loans were planned but my father-in-law’s declining health and necessary care were not. While I am hopeful that my new degree will be a blessing when it is finished, it is currently a financial burden.

If we can reach out to the depressed and downtrodden to prevent them from taking their own lives, then why do some people have such a hard time with preserving the lives of the unborn? Most supporters of abortion would have the world believe it is about choice, health, and civil liberty, but the heart of the matter is much more selfish. In my experience the idea of abortion has been an easy way to undo a mistake and escape the consequences of a poorly made decision. I am thankful my parents did not choose abortion. I was born to teenagers who were not capable of being parents. My father was 19 and barely out of high school and my mother was 17, about to begin her senior year. It was just a casual relationship and neither of them were looking for attachment. They could have easily made the decision to terminate the pregnancy and I would have been no more than a speed bump on their life journey. Instead, my parents chose to value the miracle of life even though it sprang up from a less than miraculous situation. My wife and I work in teen ministry with our church and while we have not intentionally pursued the topic of abortion, it is important to some of our youth so we tackle it. We present both the biblical and practical reasons for abstinence as well as the trauma that the decision to abort can have on teens. Biblically, intimacy is reserved for those who are married. Taking part prior to marriage can create a false feeling of love and it is why so many people cling to unhealthy relationships. This is a concept that proves true in both faith and psychology. As means of framing things emotionally, we teach our teens about the gains in maturity they will see as they transition from childhood to adulthood. The fear and guilt they may feel now can influence their decision to have an abortion. As they grow up, teens may later find they regret having an abortion. Just as people convicted of murder will later regret their actions, some women who have aborted also regret their decision to take a life. And we stress that point: abortion is taking a life. To put the idea of abstinence in perspective, we make other comparisons regarding responsibility. The purpose of intimacy is to strengthen a marriage but also to procreate. Many people look at intercourse as a form of recreation, but using an act that is intended for serious purposes as a form of fun, can be dangerous. One comparison we use is speeding or reckless driving. If you are not able to afford a speeding ticket, you are likely not going to speed. If you feel you are not financially stable enough to support a child, you should refrain from making choices that can result in pregnancy. We emphasize not taking the risk. Abortion may be legal, but what is legal is not necessarily right. In the example of speeding, killing the officer to prevent them from issuing a ticket is not legal. Why should killing an unwanted child be okay? Both forms of taking a life are intended to escape consequences, but one is deemed acceptable while the other is not.

My name is Jesus Lubnow and I am a 38-year-old husband and father of two. My family and I live in Southeast Michigan. I am nearly finished with a bachelor’s degree in IT with a focus on project management. As I wrap up my schooling, life is starting to slow down. Outside of school I work full-time, coach science olympiad, and volunteer a lot. My current volunteering includes acting as a webmaster, Google Workspace admin, cameraman, and Sunday school teacher at my church. I also volunteer at school events for my children and for the organization Families Exploring Down Syndrome (FEDS). In my early 20’s I was fortunate enough to get a decent paying job with plenty of opportunity to move up and expand my skills. My work schedule took over and I left college without finishing. Since then I have found my prospects for changing careers have been limited. Even though I have many desirable skills, employers still look for applicants with a degree. I decided to go back to school in my late 30’s and finish college. My short-term goal is to finally gain the interviews I deserve and begin a rewarding career. In addition to landing a new career, I would love to use my degree for public service. I currently operate a small church ministry that refurbishes used computers then gives them to families in need. This effort serves two purposes with the first being a means of providing basic computing to curb the “digital divide.” Children and their parents deserve to have the educational benefits of word processing, internet access, and digital education tools. The second purpose of this ministry is to prevent harmful digital waste from ending up in landfills. All equipment we receive that is not usable or repairable, is ethically recycled. I call this ministry the Computer Pantry and would love to expand it to help more communities and offer common-sense lessons in computing to students and other nonprofit organizations. Most people see computers as an expense. The hardware and software cost money. Many vendors have switched to subscription models where software and services are only available for a monthly fee. For struggling families, even basic computing is largely inaccessible, but there are so many free resources out there that people are just not aware of. The same applies for nonprofit organizations who rely on donations to keep operations running. The solutions necessary to keep those organizations running have free and cheap options, but not everyone knows where to look. While I did pursue this degree later in life to benefit my family and improve my prospects, I want to also use it to give others any advantage I can offer them. I would like to close by saying that this scholarship would greatly bless my family. In late 2019 my father-in-law passed away. My wife and I spent the three years previous to that taking care of him physically and financially. We are still paying off his medical debts and are now faced with my student loans. The loans were planned but my father-in-law’s declining health and necessary care were not. While I am hopeful that my new degree will be a blessing when it is finished, it is currently a financial burden.

My name is Jesus Lubnow and I am a 38-year-old husband and father of two. My family and I live in Southeast Michigan. Growing up as someone who is clearly of Mexican descent, I was constantly underestimated. Teachers would assume I could not speak English or that I would be behind my fellow classmates. The first day of school each year was typically the same; the teacher saw my Spanish name on the attendance sheet and saw my dark hair, eyes, and skin instead of simply viewing me as any other student. Unfortunately, there are still a large number of hiring managers that underestimate applicants without a degree. Along with my family, underestimation is a primary motivator for my return to school. My knowledge, work ethic, and job performance are enough to change how people view me, but not having a degree has greatly limited my chance of even gaining an interview. I have strong work experience and I typically impress my peers and managers. The biggest obstacle for me is getting a conversation started with potential employers. Not having a degree is the most common reason I receive for rejected applications. I hope that when I complete my degree in IT, more doors will open for me. In addition to landing a new career, I would love to use my degree for public service. I currently operate a small church ministry that refurbishes used computers then gives them to families in need. This effort serves two purposes with the first being a means of providing basic computing to curb the “digital divide.” Children and their parents deserve to have the educational benefits of word processing, internet access, and digital education tools. The second purpose of this ministry is to prevent harmful digital waste from ending up in landfills. All equipment we receive that is not usable or repairable, is ethically recycled. I call this ministry the Computer Pantry and would love to expand it to help more communities and offer common-sense lessons in computing to students and other nonprofit organizations. Most people see computers as an expense. The hardware and software cost money. Many vendors have switched to subscription models where software and services are only available for a monthly fee. For struggling families, even basic computing is largely inaccessible, but there are so many free resources out there that people are just not aware of. The same applies for nonprofit organizations who rely on donations to keep operations running. The solutions necessary to keep those organizations running have free and cheap options, but not everyone knows where to look. While I did pursue this degree later in life to benefit my family and improve my prospects, I want to also use it to give others any advantage I can offer them. I would like to close by saying that this scholarship would greatly bless my family. In late 2019 my father-in-law passed away. My wife and I spent the three years previous to that taking care of him physically and financially. We are still paying off his medical debts and are now faced with my student loans. The loans were planned but my father-in-law’s declining health and necessary care were not. While I am hopeful that my new degree will be a blessing when it is finished, it is currently a financial burden.

My parents always pushed education. "Homework is a priority," my dad would always say. Although my parents worked hard, they struggled with money. Neither of them went to college and I know they could see the difference between our lifestyle and that of their college-educated friends and their families. During my junior high and high school years, that difference in income became abundantly clear. Teachers began to expect all formal essays and research projects to be submitted in a printed format. Most of my classmates had computers, but my family finally purchased their first home computer when I was nearly done with high school. My younger siblings greatly benefitted from this as they had much earlier exposure to using a computer for education. I did have basic computing skills that I learned in some of my courses, but it was not until I purchased my own computer for college that the educational and productivity purposes of computing became clear to me. Currently, I am working on a degree in IT with a specialization in project management. I also, in partnership with my church, run a ministry that refurbishes donated computers which we then provide to families in need. Our hope is that children will not be left behind in a time where computers are integrated in classrooms and required for homework. My true hope is to expand this simple ministry into a separate non-profit. After completing my degree, I would like to expand the refurbishment operations. To do this would require donors and partnerships. Local businesses and schools are known to update their technology periodically. These would be excellent sources for used computers. As a way to boost computer education and to keep computer refurbishment moving, I plan to host workshops where students of all ages can learn the basics of computer repair. The students would learn these skills on donated computers, which would then be donated to either the student, or another family in need. To cap off the program, I would also like to offer new computers for purchase. To truly remain a non-profit, the proceeds from each sale would be used to purchase a variety of things, depending on the need. One such item is the Raspberry Pi, open source computer. These are inexpensive computers used to teach computer science skills to people of all ages. The purchased units would also be available to donate to children and families in need that are interested. Another use for proceeds would be to purchase the necessary tools for computer repair and refurbishment, should they be needed. At the very least, my hope is that this program would provide education and equipment to members of my community and the surrounding area. An even bigger hope is that this program would inspire people around the country to start similar programs of their own. To truly move forward as a society, we need to make sure we leave nobody behind.