My father served in the United States Army from 10/20/1987-6/10/1994. While my father was in the military, he served two different MOS’s. From 1987-1991 my father was in the Infantry, and he served in five different positions. He was a grenadier, m60 gunner, rifleman, Armor of his company, and RTO for his Company Commander. While being in the infantry, he was ranked as an expert shooter in every weapon in the arms room, master of small arms, received 4 certificates of achievements, 3 Army achievement medals, and one Army Commendation medal. Next, from 1991-1994, my dad was an ear, nose, and throat specialist and NCOIC of an eyes, ears, nose, and throat clinic. While my dad was an EMT, he received one certificate of achievement and one Commendation medal for being NCOIC. In my father's military career, he also was deployed to Thailand, Japan, and South Korea. My father is a disabled veteran, so he does not have the ability to work anymore. Instead, he stays at home to take care of his family. He has mentored me through everything in life, and he does everything in his power to make sure his family has everything they need at all times. A story I would like to share about my father is when my mother passed away in 2014. It was two days before my birthday that my mom went into the hospital, and I immediately called my dad to tell him, and he drove from Nevada to California within hours. My parents were separated, but he never left my mother's side during this time. He has always been a person to put family first, and he made sure to support my mom, and I, throughout this time. When my mom passed away on March 4th, 2014, it was the hardest thing I have ever dealt with. But, my dad never left my side. He has supported me from day 1, and made sure I was not going to go through this alone. He tried his absolute best to make the transition of me moving from California to Nevada as easy as possible, and helped me get through the biggest hardship I have ever had in my entire life. He made sure I got the help I needed, and to this day, my dad has been my biggest supporter. He is here for me through everything I go through. To this day, he is still guiding me and helping me make sure I stay on the right path in life. I have been a handful, but my dad has always motivated me to do my best. He has helped me get through all the hard times in high school, all my emotional breakdowns, and has truly been the best father and mentor anyone could ever ask for.

Back when I was in high school, I was part of the JROTC program at my school. This program is called the Reno High School Huskie Battalion , and it instantly became my second family. I participated in this program all four years and dedicated my entire high school career to it. While being in this program, I participated in countless community service events and had the ability to help many people in my day-to-day life. Each year, I participated in this activity called “Adopt-A-Family”, and it entailed adopting a family in need during the holiday seasons and providing them with holiday dinners and Christmas presents. During my freshman through junior year of high school, my program would adopt seven families from around the city of Reno, but none of them would be from our school. We would dedicate a day in the week to doing a “meet and greet” with all of the families, and find out what they were wishing for during the holiday season. After the meet and greet, we would work as a team to raise money for all of the items our families were wishing for. Once we raised enough money, we would go shopping for all the food, clothes, shoes, presents, etc. We would also go to the Toys for Tots foundation and they would gift us more presents to give to our families. My senior year of high school was very special in the aspect that we were able to adopt seven families within the Huskie Battalion at our school. It hit even closer to home knowing we were being able to help families within our own school; our friends we sat next to every single day! Each year was incredibly memorable, and I would always get emotional during the whole process. From the grocery shopping to the cooking, shopping for presents and clothes, and finally, to the drop-off, everything touched my heart in a way that I cannot explain to this day. Being able to see the look on our families’ faces when we would bring all of the “goodies” to their homes was the best part for me. I will never forget how grateful and happy they always were; it was the best feeling in the world. This event I was able to participate in my JROTC program back in Nevada made me feel as if I had a bigger purpose in high school than just being an ordinary student.

My biggest, most significant goal in life is to be able to serve my community and help others in my day to day life. I am majoring in elementary education with hopes to become a fourth grade teacher. This path I am on will allow me to achieve all of my goals, and I will be able to make a positive impact on the society we live in. To receive any scholarships will give me the ability to further my education, and help make these goals even more attainable. My father is a disabled Army Veteran and only has a set income to support our family, and with COVID-19, it has been incredibly hard for my family to work since my father is immunocompromised. I am also a first-generation college student, therefore I am creating a legacy for my family, and I am also setting a great foundation for my future. I am from Grass Valley, California, and came to the University of Oklahoma because it has always been my dream school. Receiving a sufficient amount of scholarships is the only way for me to be able to attend this phenomenal university, and in the long run, be able to serve my beautiful community as a teacher!

There is one person who instantly comes to mind when I think about who has had the biggest influence on my life; my father. My father served in the United States Army from 10/20/1987-6/10/1994. While my father was in the military, he served two different MOS’s. From 1987-1991 my father was in the Infantry, and he served in five different positions. He was a grenadier, m60 gunner, rifleman, Armor of his company, and RTO for his Company Commander. While being in the infantry, he was ranked as an expert shooter in every weapon in the arms room, master of small arms, received 4 certificates of achievements, 3 Army achievement medals, and one Army Commendation medal. Next, from 1991-1994, my dad was an ear, nose, and throat specialist and NCOIC of an eyes, ears, nose, and throat clinic. While my dad was an EMT, he received one certificate of achievement and one Commendation medal for being NCOIC. In my father's military career, he also was deployed to Thailand, Japan, and South Korea. My father is a disabled veteran, so he does not have the ability to work anymore. Instead, he stays at home to take care of his family. He does everything in his power to make sure his family has everything they need at all times, and protects his family at all costs. A story I would like to share about my father is when my mother passed away in 2014. It was two days before my birthday that my mom went into the hospital, and I immediately called my dad to tell him, and he drove from Nevada to California within hours. My parents were separated, but he never left my mother's side during this time. He has always been a person to put family first, and he made sure to support my mom, and I, throughout this time. When my mom passed away on March 4th, 2014, it was the hardest thing I have ever dealt with. But, my dad never left my side. He has supported me from day 1, and made sure I was not going to go through this alone. He tried his absolute best to make the transition of me moving from California to Nevada as easy as possible, and helped me get through the biggest hardship I have ever had in my entire life. He made sure I got the help I needed, and to this day, my dad has been my biggest supporter. He is here for me through everything I go through. I have been a handful, but my dad has always motivated me to do my best. He has helped me get through all the hard times in high school, all my emotional breakdowns, and has truly been the best father. My father truly shows me every single day to not give up on my dreams, and no hardship will ever be too difficult to overcome. He has helped guide me to my path in life of becoming an elementary educator, given that is my biggest dream in life. My father has single-handily taught me to persevere, stay dedicated to the tasks at hand, and always shoot for the stars… no matter how out of reach they may seem. My father has been an incredible role model in my life, and I am so thankful to be able to call him dad.

I encountered an extreme hardship in my life when my mother passed away in 2014. She was my best friend, and the parent I lived with. My mom went into the hospital in January of 2014, and I held her hand when she took her final breath on March 4th, 2014. I was always by her side during that time period, and it was the hardest thing I have ever gone through in my life. I ended up having to move in with my father, who lived in another state, and had to leave everything and everyone I knew. When I started school in Reno, Nevada, I was being bullied for always being so sad and shy, and with everything that was happening in my life, it had a negative impact on school. I changed schools three times, and I finally started to get my groove. I realized that this could not control my life, and I started to push through all the hard times and started to try to do my best in life. With this mindset, I decided to join the JROTC program at my high school. I felt like it was a good idea, because I had grown up in a military family already, so why not give it a shot? I ended up loving this program more than anything, and my senior year, I became the Brigade Commander. With that leadership position, I was in charge of every JROTC program in Northern Nevada and was able to lead every school to success during that year. All of the things I have gone through so far in life have shaped me into the person I am today; and every hardship and every shining moment has led me to where I am now.

Generosity is having the want to give, even if you don’t have much to actually give. Generosity is the sweet homeless man on the corner of the street giving away his coat to a young child who is also homeless, even though he has no other coat and it is 45°F outside. Generosity is picking your coworker up at 3 a.m. because he has no other safe way to get home. Generosity is giving your last $10 to your friend because he can’t afford to buy lunch at school. To me, being a generous person is wearing your heart on your sleeve and never wanting anything in return. You do things out of the kindness of your heart, just because you care. You don’t hold it over someone and tell them “you owe me”, you don’t ask for gas money or any compensation. You do it because you hold this value so close to your heart. Being a generous person makes me feel very good because I know that I am making someone’s day completely better by even the simplest task. Even if I do not have much to give, knowing that I have the ability to help someone else, even just the tiniest bit, makes it all worth it. I will continue to hold this value close to my heart my entire life, because the smile aim return from others is all I need.