The constitution of the United States of America brings a lot of thoughts and feelings up for me. Firstly all of the things that made me proud to be an American as I grew up in a tiny town in the middle of Iowa. The bill of rights and freedoms that told me how I was protected. I had freedom of speech, and protections through public trials that made me feel relieved that something that seems so obvious had been fought for and put into writing for my benefit and that of my children. Then there is a history of oppression that is also in the writing. The ignoring and marginalizing of women and people of color. The amendments of the U.S. Constitution show us that it is important to admit mistakes, continue to grow, and not forget where we started, in order to hopefully bring us to a better outcome moving forward. We are living in a time when racism came out from under the rug, women's rights are being stripped away, and we are all coping with a connected struggle on earth to find our new normal amidst a worldwide pandemic. I know that I am not alone in my story of how my world changed forever because of the pandemic. I got deathly ill and lost my job as a musician when I lost an octave of my singing voice due to covid cough. I ended up suffering a broken leg that made healing challenging during hospital restrictions, and my family became more divided than ever. Covid became political and I felt as if people were trying to hurt others in an attempt to make themselves feel more valid. It changed the course of my life. I am a single mom, an artist, a builder of community, and I am returning to school in pursuit of a social work degree. When I opened this scholarship writing prompt, I kept starting and deleting the essay over a course of weeks, feeling disappointed with where our country has been going. But in my 16 credits of courses this semester, the social justice and cultural competence courses have reignited my passions and my hope. I know that I am a person who doesn't squander opportunities. I take what I am given and I make things better than they were before. I will do just that with the education that I am getting now, and I will make the most of any scholarships that I receive. I will spread good throughout my community until I die, and that is a right that is afforded to me through the constitution. Thank you for your consideration and for this thoughtful writing prompt.

The reality of life and loss is a heavy burden. I am sure I am not alone in reliving my hardships throughout the past years through this scholarship essay. Even if I do not receive this financial gift, I feel quite thankful to know that someone is reading a small piece of my story and in knowing that I am on my way to a better future. Let us see if I can sum up my "adversity" in 600 words, shall we? I started life with the joyful and optimistic disposition that I carry with me today. I knew my home was unstable at the age of 7, and by 17 my childhood home was being sold. I graduated high school a year early and joined the workforce to support myself. I spent years also physically supporting my sister while trying to also procure help and emotional support for her, while she struggled with BiPolar type 2. I was essentially a child myself and there are many things that I would change about those years if I knew then what I know now. 10 years later, I had created a nice little life for myself, complete with a healthy family, a marriage and the smallest house in town, but one that I could afford and I was proud of what I had made. This was the calm before the storm that we all experienced together. Covid made me deathly ill. I struggle when I hear how many people that I love didn't take seriously something that left me coughing up blood near death, and in the aftermath, still short of breath all the time and missing an octave of my singing voice. Perhaps I should mention that the way I made my tiny happy life, was through singing, performing and teaching music to preschoolers. This job was no longer an option. So, I pulled myself up from my bootstraps, or in this case laces, and started teaching roller skating lessons outdoors during the pandemic. This was joy-bringing and wild and magical. When it rains, it pours. In a fluke accident, not even while roller skating, and more frustratingly after I had taught a 2-hour skate class diving into the bowls at the local skate park, I broke my leg... badly. The university sports medicine department referred to it as the most catastrophic break they had ever seen. During this time, my husband told me that he was overwhelmed by the idea of "taking care of me," and that he had feelings for other women. He wanted me to start the process of divorce. This led me to work harder than ever to pass physical therapy and get off of his insurance before the divorce was final. Which I did. The doctors rolled their eyes the first time I said that I wanted to skate by Thanksgiving (I broke my leg the first day of Summer Break) but I did it. I'll teach two lessons this Saturday. My cheating ex is out of my house. I paid my way through community college and I got accepted into my local university. I am hoping to be accepted into the social work program in February. I feel ridiculous listing all of my adversity since my life is beautiful. I have friends and love and a treehouse. I have music and roller skates. I dance in my tiny kitchen with my kids. But I need insurance, meaningful work and a degree, to which I am thankful for the opportunity to apply to this scholarship and the hopes that this can improve my life.

As a low-income single mom, I am actively living this writing prompt. I have been recently admitted into my local university after paying my way through community college and hope to be admitted to the social work program that I just applied to. I am extremely excited to start spreading more good into the world. In my small city, I worked hard as a nanny, and as a musician and finally was excited to buy my own tiny home that I could afford. This two-mile move took us from a school with all white children to a school where my kid was the only white kid at our bus stop, and our newsletter came home in six different languages. We learned things that first year that we were never taught in schools. I discussed the importance of language and "social coding" when my kiddo came home from the bus saying "ain't" and other styles of dialogue that I had never heard, which led me to fight against my impulse to "correct" and instead work to understand. I am lucky to have intelligent friends who work in the anthropology department at my local university to help me understand the things that I was never exposed to. I learned about the history of my town, and that I had moved into a district that previously was known as the red line. This neighborhood of rentals, primarily for immigrants and BIPOC, is my home and I am very proud of it, as well as what I am teaching my children and learning for myself. I am a self-taught musician and through my hard work was able to land a job at a prestigious music school where almost everyone holds at least a master's degree, and most are not the primary breadwinners for their families, which means that it doesn't pay much but it does feed the soul. I was able to be a part of creating an outreach program, where through our grants and efforts were able to bring music classes to our local Head Start (less than a mile from MY home) and music programming outdoors at the parks that were south of the red line. The classes started small at 35 participants and grew to over 100. This solidified for me the value of music, and also the value of compassion for things that you don't understand. In my first semester at the University, I am taking 16 semester hours in prerequisites for the Social Work program, and believe that I have found my calling. My mother, and other well-meaning friends, warn me that I will make no money in this field, or that I will get burnt out. As much as I love my people for caring for me, I know that I would not be satisfied with work that doesn't improve humanity and my community. Scholarship opportunities like this are little reminders that my path is valued. Thank you for your generosity and for your consideration.

My name is Lauren and music is my world. I have always had a song in my heart and at the age of 17, I was forced to grow up, graduating highschool a year early, getting an apartment and started working to support myself. I bought my first guitar from an ex boyfriend for 35 dollars, and the rest is a beautiful history. I taught myself to play guitar and through that was able to get a job teaching music to preschool children and it has been an amazing and fulfilling journey. Unforeseen circumstances led to me now being a single mom of two amazing children and we live a small but beautiful life, we do the best with what we have, but reality struck when my oldest fell and broke both arms. I need better healthcare and a better job so I am taking the challenging steps of returning to school to improve their lives and hopefully lift us out of poverty. Music has been a constant comfort in my life and I want to share that with as many people as possible. I hope to become a music therapist, music teacher, and continue to sing my own songs and hopefully record an album. I’ve learned the hard way that although our world and my life would would be meaningless without art and music, it is very hard to make it in this field. Music feeds my soul, but unfortunately we can not eat music to survive. That said, I’ve seen mothers in the throes of post partum depression come out the other side after spending hours singing with me each week. I’ve watched my own worries melt away in the middle of a song, and I’ve seen lasting friendships form in the music community that I create for my students. I’m hoping that with the education that I desire, I can put this innate knowledge that music is life changing and crucial, to action in my community. I’ve been paying my way through community college and just transferred to my local university where I can not even come close to paying my way. I have been applying to three scholarships every morning for the past 6 months and have received none, which led me to contemplate dropping out, when the grit in me decided to get a loan and press on. I was alerted to this scholarship and it made me wish that I could have met Linda. This is a life changing amount of money and I’m so happy to know that there are people who care about the arts and help preserve its future. Thank you for considering me and for your generosity. I’ve linked a song that I was lucky enough to sing to my grandfather before he passed. He was a fisherman and he danced with me at my wedding and was so sore that he couldn’t get out of bed the next day. This song is a piece of his legacy, just like this scholarship opportunity is Noni’s.