Currently I volunteer with youth groups and musically and will be walking into prison work in the next school year. I am a huge advocate for our youth and the ways in which they will shape our world. I believe that the next generation is so important, and in the Master's program I am beginning to pursue, I believe that I will be able to work with students that are learning and growing and remind them of the importance of giving back, just like those that gave to them when they were younger. I think giving back is a chain effect, especially when working with people. I love relationships and because of that I love to give back in ways that cause me to interact with other people in the world. I learn so much from the students that I volunteer with now. They are incredibly kind, intelligent and curious about what they world can hold for them, and I count it my privilege to walk alongside them in those spaces. This is where the majority of my time giving back to my community exists. I have a group of about 9 girls, who are going to be Seniors in High School this coming Fall. I will be a 21 year old Master's Student. Their lives will quickly be filled with colleges, finances, the future and the end of High School and I get to meet with them each week and do life with them. It is by far the best part of my week and the most joyous experience. In the future, I hope to have a non-profit for underprivileged teenage girls. I believe that those years of your life are so hard and scary and so many teenage girls do not know how to navigate any of it. I want to be a space for counseling and care for young women to come and feel loved and like they are capable of anything. I believe that with so many impoverished youth, they are already set up to fail, and I want to change that. I believe in the power of opportunity and that is exactly what I want to provide. I also believe that the world has so many needs overseas. I have thought about what it looks like to provide similar services to other young women in other countries who do not have equal opportunities to those of us in the United States. My heart really reaches for Africa, as I have spent some time over there, serving with organizations in administering aid and relief. I think that we must come back to a place of remembering the ways in which we can all support and care for one another as the Human Race. It's not about who can be the best, but rather that all of us are able to survive and exist well in this life. I want to make space for those who cannot make space for themselves and advocate for those who feel too small or weak.

Mamie Till-Mobley, the mother of Emmet Till, may not seem like a leader to all, but is a leader to me. Despite losing her son in such a gruesome way, she was headstrong in what she believed in. I cannot imagine making the decision she made to keep Emmet's casket open for all to see how abused he was. I'm not sure I could have made the same decision. But she knew how wrong it was for the boy to have been tortured like he was and how important it was for the world to see it. Her strength and dignity enlightened so many people and caused them to wake up to the reality of injustice and unacceptable behaviors done by white Americans to African Americans. Many people talk more extensively about Emmet and the speedy trial of the two white men who brutally beat him and then killed him without remorse, but I think the strength of a mother, willing to see her son in such a way speaks to even greater lengths. Would anyone have even known if she wasn't willing to show his body? Would they have cared? Lynching and beating of African Americans was normal and Jim Crow was apparent. What made Emmet Till different? I would argue it was people having to come face to face with the brutality of a young boy who, objectively, didn't even commit a crime. As a young black woman, I hope to have the same kind of strength and determination for what I believe in that Mamie Till-Mobley has. She was able to put aside her grief and show up for what mattered. Emmet did not die in vain and it is because of her that he has this legacy. She inspires me to do the hard things for the right reasons. To be honest about the problems and show people why it matters that we solve them. Young boys should not be murdered just for messing around in stores and adult men should not be able to murder young boys just because they are angry. Similarly, black people should not face injustice in our world today just because we were slaves or brought over from Africa and others should not be able to do whatever they want to African Americans just because they hold a sense of entitlement or superiority. Mamie proposes a better way: to inform and counteract. She informed people about what happened to her son and counteracted the murder by arising emotion and anger in the people who saw what happened. May I, and my generation, seek to inform and counteract injustice in our world, whether it is against black people or any other. She inspires to me to find justice for all the people who have been treated unfairly and to not just speak, but show the truth to those who do not understand.

My experience with mental health has changed the way I experience life. When I was in High School, much of my struggles with Mental Health had to do with Depression. I was severely Depressed for a lot of my time as a teenager. I just didn't have any ambition or want to do anything. However, coming out of that, and now, completing an undergraduate program a year early and walking into a Master's program, I believe that anything is possible. I want to help other people walking through seasons of severe depression realize that it doesn't have to be the end of it all. Depression does not have to define you - and I'm living proof. I want to get my Master's degree so that I can help people like me and walk with them through what is so unimaginable. Furthermore, because I have experienced depression, I am able to walk with others better. I know what it's like to be in their shoes. I have been in several relationships where it has been easier to aid and care for people in their depression because I know what I needed and can know what they might need. Depression is not the same for everyone, but it can be a connection point from one person to another. I get to help people know they aren't alone, and that is the most rewarding thing to come out of such a difficult time. With the world, our world is so deeply broken. My experience with mental health is a reminder that the world is hard and not just on me. It makes me kinder to the world and to the people in the world. I have no idea what's going on in their lives, and maybe they just need a little grace. I have also walked with anxiety, not as severely, but in multiple panic attacks. In this, I have a goal to destigmatize anxiety and make it something that people take seriously. Too often people diagnose themselves with anxiety just because they are worried, but worry is not anxiety. I want people to take anxiety seriously, as it seriously impacts so many peoples day-to-day lives. In relationships, I found that as I open up about anxiety and panic attacks, I'm not alone. Many of my friends also face panic attacks and debilitating anxiety. We work together and are honest with one another about when we feel anxious, and we advocate for one another when something becomes too overwhelming. The world is full of things to worry about: the future, money, scholarships, friends, family, and the list could go on and on. But the world does not have to make me anxious. I can choose to give the world less power over my life, and that is what I am working to do. Nothing deserves the amount of panic and worry that comes over me when I experience anxiety attacks, even when they might seem like they do. We can make the world a better place, and that starts with giving it a little less power and a little more grace.

Faith was the only thing that could have gotten me through my household. Coming from a severely difficult situation at home, where my mother was a strong Christian and my father was a strong disbeliever, I always felt caught in the middle of their arguments and challenges. I never knew who I was or what I was capable of and I was so emotionally worn out from the constant torment and anger that my father frequently directed at me because of my relationship with God. For the longest time, if I am honest, it really hurt my relationship with the Lord. However, our God never gives up on us, and His constant pursuit of me changed my life. When I was a junior in High School, I became more and more involved in my church, even accepting an internship as the Worship Leader for the Youth Ministry. I was so happy to be used by the church, but my relationship with the Lord was not where it should have been. I was holding anger towards God, believing that it was His fault I grew up in the space that I did. I loved the Lord, but I did not trust Him or want to talk to Him. I was holding a deep grudge that grew with every conversation I had to have with my father. One night, however, I felt like I was at the lowest point I could possibly be at. I had just argued with my father about God and serving God, my Spiritual Mentor was proving to be imperfect and emotionally hurtful, my mother had no way to escape domestic abuse, and the world seemed to be crashing down around me. All of my defenses went completely out the window, and I began to wrestle with the Lord (just like Jacob.) I began to tell Him all the things I believed He had done to me and all the ways I wished He would have protected me. I was angry and I wanted God to know that. I know I was using God as my punching bag and He let me. And when I had let out all that I was feeling, I was left with sorrow in my heart. I began to cry out to the Lord, asking for His forgiveness. Repenting for the things I did that kept me far from Him, praying that He would save me. I will never forget the feeling of His presence and arms wrapping around me, holding me tightly, and whispering, "It's going to be okay." In that moment, I embraced the Lord and released myself of all of the feelings I had that nothing was fair. I came to the realization that while my life may not be fair, neither was the fact that the God of the Universe was comforting me. Without my faith, I know I wouldn't have even made it that far, but God was sustaining me from a distance, and now, He was about to start sustaining me right beside me. Since that experience, I have relied on God in that very same situation. I still see my father, and he still causes me immense amounts of pain, but I have a Heavenly Father that walks alongside me. I have relied on God to share the Gospel with my father whenever possible and to do my best to treat Him in the same way Jesus does. To see him the way I know God sees him. Just as God did not give up on me, he hasn't given up on him. I won't either.