Ever since I was little I have played pretend school in my room forcing my little siblings and cousins to play along while I stood in the front of the room and teaching them various things. As a kid, I thought it was my job to teach them. I found it my responsibility to show them all they needed to know to be prepared for life. My little brain thought I knew everything there was to know about life. This was not true but I learned that later in life. As I got older I swayed from my passion for teaching others and experimented with other professions. I did this by volunteering in multiple different areas. I figured no one would say no to free help and I would be able to drip my toe into other waters. What I did not expect was that this would awaken my passion for teaching more than ever. I fell in love with helping others and becoming available to all those who needed me. Now that I am older and a bit more mature my motives are not the same as they were when I was teaching all my toddler siblings insisting that I knew best. Now I view this as an opportunity to come to these children and be able to pour myself into them and try and prepare them for life. I do this knowing that I know nothing about what life is going to throw at me or my future students but I do know that I want to help these students be built on a firm foundation so that no matter what they can handle what life gives them. In preparation for this career, I am currently studying at a community college and am going to be transferring to Southeastern University in Lakeland Florida. This is such an amazing and bold choice for so many reasons. I am moving 24 hours away from a family I am very close to and I will be paying for this experience all by myself. I am beyond excited about all the opportunities and programs this school has to offer. For my student teaching, I can teach in Mexico and this opportunity excites me more than most. I love knowing that I can pour my life into children and I love that I can use my life for culture to make this a memorable experience. I plan to become a missionary in Mexico helping in a school as an ESL teacher. I get so excited when I think of my future and the people I will be able to pour my life into others.

I have scrolled through about 200 different essay prompts, dreading that I will have to spend hours writing things that don't interest me, but then I came across this prompt. My heart jumped. I get to write about my favorite person and my role model. Now I know that everyone says “My mom is the best” or “There is no one greater than my mom” but when I say it I mean it. Now I am not saying that there are not other amazing moms but my mom definitely beats all the other moms. I genuinely believe she is perfect. She is the most incredible human I have ever met. She is so wise and loves others with everything in her. She is an incredibly hard worker and lives her life after Jesus with such humility and love. My mom has done everything from making apple sauce from the apples in our backyard to helping little kids speak English to making our kitchen table from barn doors. Like I said amazing. She is always striving to find new ways to pour her life into others and use her gifts to bless everyone around her. She does this by leading bible study, cleaning the house, making new recipes, disciplining people, gardening, making everything from scratch, homeschooling 5 children for 9 years, etc. I could keep going on and I still couldn't ever cover what impact she has and how much she works to bless others. Her selflessness is evident in all that she does. Words can never do my Mama justice and I am beyond blessed to have her as my mother. One of the many lessons I was taught by my mama was that the best way to teach someone how to live is to live by example. I believe this is what our human nature is. We see something that we admire and we strive to be like it. I admire my mom with everything inside me and strive to be just like her. If only I could be blessed to be just half the woman she is. So to fully answer your question she is the main reason, other than God, that I am the person I am today. She gave me a role model, a perfect example of who God calls us to be. I am myself because of her love and support through all times of life. The words of encouragement and life that she spoke into me. The laughs and cries that allowed us to grow closer. All the memories with our crazy family and long talks into the night about the Lord. My goals to be able to pour my life into others is because she did it first. She exceeds human expectations and did it all. She is the best mom, teacher, warrior of Christ, provider, and friend. She gave me someone other than Jesus to look up to. I owe everything I am first to God then my beautiful Mama.

I was homeschooled most of my life and I have always grown up around adults. No matter where I went it felt as if there were just adults and never seemed to be any peers. My mom tried hard to put us into clubs and sports to get us involved with other kids our age but somehow we always ended up with adults. Whether they were my parent's friends, old people from the church, people who worked with my dad, etc we always seemed to be surrounded by adult things. Looking back at this now I realize that this was a blessing. My siblings and I learned how to grow up and learned from the ones who knew best. Because of this exposure, we were involved in many different volunteering opportunities. My dad is a pastor so it always seemed like there was something to do. We were always home because we were homeschooled and so that meant we were always available to help out with those involved in the church. So, for as long as I can remember I have been more “voluntold” to help out. When I was younger I did it out of obedience and out of respect. They told me to so I did. As I have gotten older it was almost a hobbit to help out and volunteer but slowly it has become more of a choice and a passion. I have served and volunteered in more places than I can count and the more I do it the more I fall in love with helping others and sacrificing the only thing we can never get back—our time. It has taught me that what I have is such a gift. I have a loving family, a beautiful home, and a community around me. Why would I not help those around me? I have learned that I love people. It used to be a tolerance because of the exposure we had with adults and people in the church but it soon became my love, not my parent's love. It became my passion and mission, not my parents. It helped me recognize my calling in life to become an ESL teacher and helped me grow into my own. It allowed me to work with all ages of people and find out how much I loved others. It taught me what age group I wanted to teach and gave me a passion for those with less and a passion to go into teaching in the mission field. I know it may sound silly but I owe most of the credit for having my passion for volunteering. It helped me uncover some of my greatest qualities and helped me mature and grow up different from the norm. It gave me almost a step up in life. I am so thankful for that exposure and the push my parents gave me to help those around me and share the love of Christ.

I have been looking at about 200 different scholarships looking at the essay prompts hoping that I didn't hate the new prompt as much as I hated the last one and then I saw this one. You have no idea how excited I got about the fact that I got to write about my favorite show ever. I love all the characters in the office, truly. If I picked any of them I could find a connection or something that resonates with me the one character I would pick would have to be Micheal. I think about all of the most awkward situations, inappropriate comments, lame jokes, and laziness that he would probably be one of the last ones most people would pick. I would have to say that I disagree. I have too many people in my life, myself included, that have a rough or untrained outside. Someone who sometimes doesn't read the room, says the wrong comment, doesn't think before they speak, etc. We all may know someone or be that someone. The thing is that if you sat down with that person and tore away all of that annoying, hard-to-deal-with outside you would see the beauty and wonderful person inside. I am a very bubbly, happy person and most people who know me may read this and be confused but I know what it is like to be misunderstood, to have the right intentions and for that not to be seen. The only things being seen are the outside uncomfortable part. With Michael if you get past all that you see a guy who has so much love to give and just wants to be loved back. All he wanted was a good friend, kids, and a woman that loved him. He compromised for years dating Jan and Carol, giving out candy on Halloween alone in his condo, and being there for his employees in every big moment of their lives, hanging out with awful Ryan and Tod Packer searching for someone to love him. You can see how much he cares for others. When Holly finally came into his life I feel as if we could see that he truly just loved others and didn't know how to express that fully and in a way that others accepted it. To answer your second question I think that this show gave me a little hope going into my future. That may seem silly but it shows me that you can make anything fun. When thinking of the future and my new routine of a job 5 days a week it becomes daunting and discouraging. Then I can remember the office and the fact that they made everyday fun. Whether that be with office Olympics, picking out health care, downsizing stresses, rabies, etc. I could keep going on. They made do with the cards they were dealt and made everything fun. If people who worked at a paper company made everyday fun then I think that I can make pretty much anything fun and use it to impact others.

I have always been a happy person. My mom always tells the story of how when I was a baby I was in my car seat and she had a blanket over it to let me sleep. She came to the side of the car to get me out and all she sees is the blanket moving. She opens it up and there I am at 6 months old kicking my legs and smiling. I love this story because it truly does represent my happy spirit. I love people and am a very outgoing person. I am always finding a way to talk. My mom is convinced that I talk just because I like hearing myself talk. When I was younger I was sure that was true but as I have gotten older I have realized that I love talking to people. I love it because I love encouraging them, asking questions, and learning. I love being able to make others feel valued and loved. I know how it feels when people are intentional with me and so I try very hard to be intentional with others. So to answer your question I believe I already have. I work every day to make an impact on someone whether that be my family, a customer at work, the kids I nanny, my teachers, classmates, friends, and neighbors. I have Jesus living in my bones and I look for opportunities daily to let my light shine in the dark world. It amazes me the power of a smile or the encouragement of kind words that can lift a person. I choose to look to God daily to reveal to me the ways I can be used to make a positive impact in this world. I find it such a blessing when I can be used by Him to impact someone else. Living a life that honors Jesus makes this possible. Choosing to not follow the ways of this world. Being a person of integrity and a person who follows the fruits of the spirit makes that impact possible. Putting others first and being generous sacrificing your agenda and pursuing God’s plan for your life is what is most important. Being a light for Christ that shines bright in this dark world is so vital. I am planning on pursuing a teaching degree as well as an ESL certification and a minor in Spanish. I chose this career path very carefully thinking about all the different opportunities this degree would give me. Not just job opportunities but the opportunities to have relationships with those I come in contact with. Investing in kids through teaching is my way of making this impact. And using my teaching degree to go overseas and help kids learn, but also shine the light of Christ within their lives. I don’t want any financial barrier to stop that from being possible. This scholarship opportunity could positively impact my life and make my dreams possible. I plan to attend Southeastern University which is a Christian college this coming fall. That college had a positive impact on my life, which made me pick it as my university. Now I need your help to change the world.

Success is often viewed as a high-paying job, good friends, and never be worried about finances. Now as great as this sounds this is not how I view success. I see it as living my life for others and being able to pursue my passion for teaching. Success is getting my degree at Southeastern University in education and using my degree to teach kids overseas and help students who have English as a second language. Success in my opinion would also be to not have much debt so getting into the mission field would be more possible. It’s investing, believing, and fighting towards your purpose and calling that you have been destined to do. You see most students who have a desire to use education as the method to do mission work, can’t afford the cost of college because of the debt accumulating after four years. This issue stops students from having the opportunity to get to the mission field. And because of this problem, they pick positions within the states where they can pay back their loans. Then after a while, they get comfortable and forget their original plan. They then begin to follow the American dream and never follow through with what God desired them to do from the beginning. Success is getting this scholarship that I am applying for and following through with the dreams and desires that I had as a little kid sitting in my living room teaching my siblings in a made-up classroom that I put together. It’s teaching in Mexico or in low-income areas within the states where most teachers won’t go. It’s spending extra time tutoring a student and investing in the lives of others. It’s believing in students that others have counted out, and seeing them succeed in life. It’s taking jobs that others won’t to truly influence others. It’s shining the Light of Jesus in this dark world. Most of us are afraid of darkness, but Jesus has called us to go find darkness and boldly walk into that darkness with the light of Jesus Christ. Why do we run away from darkness when we are called to go find it? So the darkness I see is kids not having role models or an understanding of who Jesus is. I want to redefine what victory is by being the light in these dark places making a difference with my teaching and changing the outcome of these kids' lives. I want to be a world changer, not so my name is known, but that Jesus' name is known. Even if I can’t get into Southeastern University, or I don’t get enough scholarship to pay my bills, I will find a way to make my dreams possible. I would love to have you help me make this possible. Thank you for allowing me to apply for this scholarship true success is following the call and purpose Jesus puts in your life. Though I don’t know how it will all come about, I do believe it will happen and I would love to have your help to make it possible.

I believe creating a legacy is investing in the lives of others by sharing the light of Jesus Christ. My method in doing this is pursuing an education degree and using my knowledge of Spanish to teach kids overseas and help students who struggle with English as a second language. The legacy comes from investing in others and making Jesus part of every part of my teaching. Teaching is in my blood, my Dad is a pastor and my mom teaches a bible study each week, homeschooled me and my 3 siblings for 9 years, and works as a translator within the public schools. Though I believe they are both gifted communicators, the real reason, is that they love people. Many times people think, I don’t want to be like my parents, but in all reality, we often find ourselves exactly like them. Guess what I am exactly like them! I am thankful to have them as parents and follow in their footsteps even if the path of doing that is different. If I was to make a business I think I would start a nonprofit that would help students just like me. Students who have a desire to use education as a method to do mission work, but can’t afford the cost of college because of the debt accumulating after four years. This issue stops students from having the opportunity to get to the mission field. And because of this problem, they pick positions within the states where they can pay back their loans. Then after a while, they get comfortable and forget their original plan. They then begin to follow the American dream and never follow through with what God desired them to do from the beginning. My nonprofit would help students pay for college so they will pursue the purpose they had from the beginning. The light in me is very bright because Jesus Christ lives in every web of my life. I believe Jesus didn’t only die for me, he died for the very person who is reading this scholarship application. No matter if you grant me this scholarship or not, Jesus Christ loves you, and I hope these words encourage you in this very moment. You see the mix of education and ministry is very intentional, because both are so entwined in the very fabric of who God made me to be. When both of these ingredients are in play the light of Christ shines bright. We are called to shine like a city on a hill, to not high our light.

My whole life I want to work in education and be a teacher. There are pictures of me as a kid teaching my siblings and cousins in a made-up classroom setting in my living room. In whatever situation I am in, I am always trying to invest in others. Whether it’s working in kids ministry within the church, going on a mission trip to with Back to Back Ministry in Monterey Mexico, investing in my little sister's friends, or starting a middle school girls' bible study there is one common denominator: I love people and investing in the life of others is very important to me. Teaching is in my blood, my Dad is a pastor and my mom teaches a bible study each week, homeschooled me and my 3 siblings for 9 years, and works as a translator within the public schools. Though I believe they are both gifted communicators, the real reason, is that they love people. Many times people think, I don’t want to be like my parents, but in all reality, we often find ourselves exactly like them. Guess what I am exactly like them! I am thankful to have them as parents and follow in their footsteps even if the path of doing that is different. I plan to go to Southeastern University which is a Christian College this fall to get my education degree, ESL certification, and minor in Spanish. I hope to use this in time to go overseas and work with foreign students to help them learn and grow in their education and faith. I am so excited to be going to the mission field with my degree in teaching, to invest in others, and share Jesus in the process with my gift of speaking Spanish. The mix of education and ministry is very intentional because both are so entwined in the very fabric of who God made me to be. Even now here in Michigan, I work with an ESL program each Monday. This program is to help kids who have English as their second language. However, I only have a year at a community college and hopefully three years at Southeastern University if I can afford it. No matter, how this goal will be achieved, I will follow the call to be a teacher, just like I was doing when I was a little kid teaching my siblings in the living room. Thank you for the opportunity to apply for this scholarship.

In my middle school years and my first two years of high school, I was homeschooled. In my junior and senior years of high school, I went to Romeo High School. I faced many obstacles during my high school journey but the main obstacle that I faced was Romeo High School would not accept my homeschool education for my ninth and tenth-grade years of school. This meant I had to do summer tests and double the work my junior year to catch up with my grades to graduate on time. I had to complete 9.5 credits all during my junior year which is one of the most stressful years of high school. In this journey, the teachers were over-committed with the existing students and I had to initiate and push my teachers so I could stay on course to catch up with my grade. I wish I could say that teachers were helpful but had to be an advocate for myself amid their already busy lives. During this time I also carried a job and was very active in my church as well. Romeo High School is a school that focuses on three different pathways and because of these pathways, most of the kids have been with the program and school for a long time. Socially these kids have already been connected and I am an outsider coming in and being homeschooled didn’t help either. Being picked on is never fun and deciding to not engage in some of the parties that went on also caused people to push me away because of my religious beliefs as well. My parents taught me to be wise, to not judge, but to show love even when people rise against me. Even though I desired to be known and have friends, I didn’t let my hard work, lack of athletic ability, religious beliefs, and lack of help from my teachers stop me from overcoming the obstacle at hand. I still pushed through the challenges with the teachers, I was able to truly make some good friends. And though everything seemed rushed, I was so glad to push myself even with the challenges that I had before. Now with me going 20 hours away from home to a college where I know not a single person, and with a debt of 17,000 a year, I can have more confidence to overcome the unknown because of the steps I took back in High School.

I have lived my life in a family that loves people. No matter what there were people over at our house. This used to annoy me at times thinking why are there always people here, why can't it just be us? As I have grown up with all of this happening around me I have realized the reason for it. My dad is a pastor and he opened his house to students, families in the church, neighbors, and friends to show them something. My parents were leading them and showing them how to live a life, modeled after Jesus Christ. I respect my parents for that because they were truly modeling their lives after the one we should all be modeling our lives after. Jesus came to this earth and didn't condemn but instead lived a life for all to follow and I believe that is truly the way to live. I demonstrate leadership in the way I live my life. I believe that we should live by example and that is something I try very hard to do. I don’t party, I don’t chase after guys, I work hard, and I pay for the things I have. I pay for my car insurance and my phone, I bought my car, and I will be paying for college and I have a strong faith. My Dad believes that leadership starts with taking care of chickens outside. Though I hate those chickens, I understand where he’s coming from. I’m consistent: I have worked at the same place from my sophomore year till now being a freshman in college, even though the pay is not great. They have seen me pass on higher-paying jobs, and this sacrifice has increased my leadership among my supervisors and my peers. My dedication to my job influences them. I think back to all the people in life that I have looked up to and wanted to be like. Those people were not looking down on me and telling me what to do. They instead just lived their life by example. I have had the opportunity to have different leadership positions in the church, school, bible study, extracurriculars, ESL programs, school classrooms, work, etc. I have had multiple opportunities to invest in those younger than me and lead others. I could write a whole lot about those experiences what I learned and how I demonstrated leadership but the truth is that I work to not show leadership in those positions but in my everyday life. Leadership in my opinion is a way of life and the consistency and manner that you do it in.

When asked this question I feel as if there has to be more than one right answer. Who impacted me to choose my career? It is a tough question. I feel as if ever since I was little I grew up wanting to teach others. Anywhere from pretend children's church, school, or baking class with my siblings and cousins. I was always eager to teach and help others especially those younger than me. I feel as if it is something that has always been inside of me and I can't help but have this desire. When I think of who truly inspired me I think of a student in the 2nd grade class where I helped my senior year of high school. I encountered a sweet adorable Hispanic child who struggled not only with the assignments but socially. The teacher would always find a way to call him out in front of the class and this sweet little boy would just sit silent with tears in his eyes. He was constantly misunderstood by his peers and by his teacher. All he would ever do was try and help the teacher and other students. He had such a selfless and beautiful heart and yet the teacher never saw it. She only saw the mistakes, struggles, wrong answers, brown skin, and answers in Spanish. He couldn't help the fact that no one would sit down with him and explain it in a way that he understood or translate his answers into English and give him credit for the right answer. No one took the time with him but instead pushed him through the grade when he missed most of the lessons because of the lack of help from his teacher. Throughout my time in the classroom, I was dedicated to helping this student understand the concepts and helped him be able to interact with the other students and use the little English he knew to talk to his peers and answer his homework questions. The year ended too fast and I think of him often. My heart breaks at the fact that the teacher never realized the beautiful soul she had in her classroom but instead let him struggle. This experience inspired me to be better than that. So to answer your question I have had two people inspire me to become a teacher. This sweet little boy with a beautiful heart inspired me to see every student for who they were. The second person was the teacher to showed me I could be different and better and that I could be the change in the children's lives. This experience inspired me to see each student as a gift to not only me but this world. Use what others may see as hindrances or weaknesses for good. I want to be a teacher who dedicates time to my students and helps them in the ways that they need. I hope that one day if I have the opportunity to have a student assistant in my classroom they will see how I treat my students and want to model it. I want them to see how I teach and want to be better not despite me but because of me.

My name is Julia Kingsbury. I am a hardworking, bubbly, outgoing, and confident individual. I enjoy spending time with family and friends. In my free time, I will read, bake, work out, enjoy my time outside, travel, and hang out with family and friends. I grew up loving the outdoors and doing anything that involved a dare. I have been babysitting since I was 12 and I have always had a passion for students and teaching. My mother grew up in Mexico and because of that, I was raised in a culturally diverse home. I have been speaking Spanish since I was little and have always wanted a career that uses Spanish and teaching. I am not fluent but am working towards it and am hoping to be able to use Spanish in my future teaching career. I hope to graduate from college and have a job that I love. My family is very important to me and I hope to start one of my own someday. Professionally I would love to be able to teach in a Spanish-english school and have the opportunity to teach students a second language. My current career path is elementary education with a minor in Spanish and an ESL certification. Since I was a little girl I have wanted to be a teacher and a missionary but I never knew how to apply both of those to a real career. I always thought it was more of a fantasy than a reality. Considering all these gifts and opportunities that I have already been afforded in life, I have been in constant prayer and thought about what role, if any, they would play in my future career. The Lord has revealed my future career to be an ESL teacher in a foreign country. I plan to have my degree in Elementary Education with a minor in Spanish. I will be able to use my gift of teaching and the opportunity of Spanish in my home to help build bridges to help people in Latin American countries. This career entails all of my passions and will open a lot of doors for future opportunities and different career areas. I was homeschooled until 10th grade when I finally transferred into public school. No credits from my freshman or sophomore years transferred when I came to public school. I was required to accomplish 9.5 credits in my junior year. That required a lot of hard work, and I still tried to maintain my SERVE hours and good grades. I always work extra hard and do everything to the best of my abilities and I think that is something not many other people can say. Given that I am responsible for covering my own tuition, I think receiving a grant to help me start at a community college would be extremely beneficial. I work hard for all I have and I try not to take things for granted. I would be a very thankful and ambitious recipient of this scholarship.