In 2017 I was upgraded to a freshman in high school. Throughout my childhood, I had always dreamed about my high school experience. I had dreams of doing sports, making life-long connections with friends, & memories that would last me a lifetime. Little did I know, my high school experience would not come close to what I had dreamt in the years before. My single mother of two decided my very first year of high school that we would move to Lithopilis, Ohio, a rural town not too far from south-east Columbus. I had to leave all my friends I had grew up with, but I was excited for the new beginnings. This excitement though would quickly tarnish after I began school. August of 2017, I woke up early to prep myself for the first day of school. Like every first day before, my hair was freshly silk-pressed, I had on a clean new pair of Vans, & I had on my favorite graphic tee & jeans. I was dressed to impressed. I wanted my first impression with my new peers to be a good one. As I hopped on the bus, I realized there was only 1 other black girl and 2 black boys. I never heard of the school before, so I wasn't sure what demographic to expect. I sat down alone, preparing myself for what the school would be like. As I hopped off of the bus, I noticed how there weren't many people that looked like me. As I sat down in my first period class, I scoped out my surroundings. Given that I had come from a school with students of many different races & backgrounds, I was not used to being the only black girl, no, black person in a room. I would get used to this feeling though, as my first period went by, & second period went by, & third period went by, & soon the school day was over & I was still the only black person in the room. This brought along a new feeling of anxiety for me. Being that I was a new girl in a small town who also didn't look like the people that surrounded me, I was given disgusted stares of judgement every day from everyone. I had lost all confidence in myself. For the first time in my life, I felt defeated just from the color of my skin. I knew the high school experience I dreamed of was out the window. I never gave up though, no matter how low I felt. I continued on with tunnel vision on my education. By my junior year of high school, I had completed all my credits and began to work on my college credits while simultaneously working on obtaining my cosmetology license. Today I am a licensed cosmetologist and a student at Ohio University's Scripps School of Journalism, and I couldn't be prouder. All the obstacles from my high school experience I believe led me here, where I am living out my dream of becoming a journalist. With my degree, I plan on advocating for students underrepresented in communities who feel that their lack of representation makes them a burden in a world not sought out for them. I want to be someone that people can look to for empowering words of encouragement to continue to strive forward in our world. My goal is to give them the space they need to be themselves without the feelings of judgement & disapproval. This scholarship would be perfect to help me do so to better our world.