Being a caregiver, to me, is caring for a person in your family, close circle, or community who may not have the capacity to do it for themselves. Essentially, taking responsibility for the physical, emotional, or practical needs of another person who may not be able to fully care for themselves selflessly. The person that I cared for being coming to college, and still care for while away, is my grandfather who had a stroke over 10 years ago and also my uncle, his son, who had autism. I helped take on this role a little bit after my grandmother, who was the matriarch of our family, passed away from stage 4 breast cancer back in 2017. This role was easy to take on because before she passed I had been helping her with not just my grandfather, but also my uncle and the kids that she used to foster. She and my grandfather were foster parents, so I can say I had the touch of caring for people since a young age. The kind of things that I do to support them are taking care of their needs and wants, i.e. being the first one who they call if something is wrong in the house, walking my uncle to the store/gas station, helping them with meds, making sure they eat, helping my dad get groceries for them, and resolving in conflict issues that they may have just to name a few. Being a caregiver has shaped me in many ways. Like I stated before, I’ve been learning the ways of a caregiver since my youth years though my grandmother and watching her care for everyone in our family, and also being a helper for the SPED department at my schools during elementary, middle, and high school, and those experiences allowed me to have more compassion, empathy and sympathy for others around me, it taught me how to be more patient, kind, and understanding that everyone is different and you have to respect their needs and wants, and it also taught me to love everyone for who they are because all people are worthy of love and people who will truly care for them no matter what the circumstances are. Those experiences have influenced my life and who I am today by making sure that I’m always kind to the all people, living life with no regrets, and being a helping hand to all. It has influenced my goals in life because it drew me to wanting to be in the healthcare field and being that I am a Biology major, I love learning in STEM and understanding both the physical and psychological aspects behind life and how we are all made to be special in our own ways. This scholarship will truly mean so much to me because it will allow my family to have less of a burden when pertaining to paying for my education while also trying to take care of my grandfather and my uncle, and it will help me tremendously as a boost to keep going for them and knowing that I am ever so fortunate to be gifted this scholarship that I won something in their honor and that they helped my journey in school so that I can be better for them. Being in school and getting this degree means so much to me because I am a first gen student and I want to be the doctor of my family that helps everyone and get my family to a place of living life comfortably and happy. I also plan, once I graduate and have my own fully, move my grandfather and my uncle in with me and continue to be their caregiver after college because they means the world to me and they are apart of my motivation to keep going, so this scholarship will deeply impact me and help me for my long-term goals. Thank you for the consideration and good luck to all applicants.

The way that I have overcame adversity has been a process. I started out going through challenges and tough obstacles, and I was very afraid of facing them because I didn’t know how to, so I would avoid dealing with them and working through it. Once they became to much for me to deal with, I finally decided to open up to my family, close friends, and my therapist(s) and they all helped guide me into the right direction to face them on my own in the proper way. At first, it was tricky and scary due to the fact that I had pushed the challenges of the adversities away, but once I accepted them and learned what was the one thing that mainly targeted the start of the adversities, i created my own strategy to overcome them. First, I think to myself is this something that I can deal with on my own or do I need someone to help guide me through it. If it is something that I can tackle on my own, then I create solutions that would cause the adversity to either go away or minimize from happening. If it is something that I need someone else to help me with, I will first ask if they have every experience or dealt with the same or similar situation that I currently am dealing with, and depending on their response then I would determine the best way for me to about dealing with my situation in my way. After that, I would finally face whatever adversity and the challenge(s) that may come with it and use my solutions that I have created to help me through everything. Once I’ve tackled it and got through it, I look back what I went through and take the moral lesson from it and how it has helped me to move forward and better myself as a person in whole. The way that I wish to help my community in the future is to come back to my hometown, New Orleans, Louisiana, and pour knowledge and money back into my city by helping build it back up and give the youth resources to keep them out of trouble and make them feel that they can be someone in this lifetime and that their lives matter. I plan to also come back to help try and build up some of the abandoned buildings to house our homeless population because them staying on the street not having anywhere to go or anywhere to work is dangerous and unkind, so I want to be the person that breaks that barrier and give everyone the opportunity to turn their lives around and make something out of the life that they have left. Age doesn’t matter, and we all make mistakes, but the way that a person tackles their second chance matters and a lot of people deserve that second chance, especially in my hometown.

My name is Layla Wade, I am a senior at McDonogh 35 Senior High School, and I believe that I am nothing short of being an extraordinary student and person in general. My school interests includes being the President and an active member of McDonogh 35’s SGA program, being the Parliamentarian of the National Honors Society Chapter of McDonogh 35 Senior High School, and also being Gifted and Talented in singing, playing the piano, and academics. My extracurricular activities include working at the zoo in my city during the weekend, holidays, and breaks, being an active member and Co-captain of the McDonogh 35 Majorette team, and being an active member of the McDonogh 35 Lady Roneagles Softball team. My community involvement includes feeding the homeless and cleaning around my city. My plans post-high school is to attend the illustrious Howard University where I will earn my Bachelor’s in Biology and Political Science, and take my education further to attend dental school to become an orthodontist and eventually a congresswoman. I plan to make a positive impact on the world through my careers by first as being an orthodontist, my goals are to help patients build confidence and reassurance within themselves through their smiles and make sure that they feel secure and comfortable on a professional level with myself and my staff. I haven’t always had the “perfect teeth” and I’ve once been very insecure about my teeth and lacked so much confidence where I didn’t even like smiling showing my teeth, but now that I’ve gotten older and have had the privilege of having braces to correct my smile, my confidence level has elevated tremendously and I’m more confident and secure with my smile and being as a whole. I would have never been able to achieve this without my orthodontist, whom I am forever grateful for for giving me the opportunity to correct my smile. Also, with being a congresswoman, the position in itself will speak volumes and standards in any room that I step into, and I plan to use my voice to advocate for not just my community, but many many communities of people who are unrepresented, unheard, unseen, and/or don’t have the tools or confidence to speak up about the injustices, needs, and wants that are requested to make sure that they are living the best and safe life that they can possible and so that they can feel secure and trust that someone will be on their side at all times and support their endeavors as needed. I’ve always had a passion for helping people and being the person that they can rely on to make sure that things are being done swiftly and correctly, and having a position like that in the federal government will bring me from just being an advocate for the people in my city to being an advocate for millions and millions of people in this country and doing it as a PROUD African American female from the city of New Orleans. Most people already have their agenda’s and persona’s of us that are from from the truth, and if I can be the one of a few who represents us in that way and show them that we are more than just statistics and Hurricane Katrina, then maybe this will be the lead way to many many amazing opportunities and new experiences. Hopefully, through God’s will and plan, I can fulfill my goals and live up to everything that I have destined on my mind.

My name is Layla Wade, I am a senior at McDonogh 35 Senior High School, and I believe that I am nothing short of being an extraordinary student and person in general. My school interests includes being the President and an active member of McDonogh 35’s SGA program, being the Parliamentarian of the National Honors Society Chapter of McDonogh 35 Senior High School, and also being Gifted and Talented in singing, playing the piano, and academics. My extracurricular activities include working at the zoo in my city during the weekend, holidays, and breaks, being an active member and Co-captain of the McDonogh 35 Majorette team, and being an active member of the McDonogh 35 Lady Roneagles Softball team. My community involvement includes feeding the homeless and cleaning around my city. My plans post-high school is to attend the illustrious Howard University where I will earn my Bachelor’s in Biology and Political Science, and take my education further to attend dental school to become an orthodontist. I actually plan to start my own charity, and an idea that I’ve been thinking very deeply about is starting one centered around Breast Cancer. I unfortunately lost my grandmother to Stage 4 Breast Cancer about 6 1/2 years ago, and her death was one of the hardest deaths that I have ever experienced in my life, and I’m very blessed that she was able to make it to 2017 because when she was first diagnosed in 2012 the doctors informed her and our family that she would only have a few months to live due to how severe her case was, but God had other plans and decided to bless us with 5 amazing years with her that I will be thankful for a lifetime. With that, I want to bring more awareness to the hard effect that Breast Cancer have on women and my mission statement will be “Support the Women That Wear the Tough Pink Gloves of Breast Cancer Because Their Battle is Only the Beginning to a Healed Future!” I will serve the beautiful young women and ladies who suffer with Breast Cancer and make it imperative to educate family, friends, and others who are simply curious about the illness how it can effect not just the patient, but the people around them who love and care for them and who to properly support their loved one who is dealing with this potential deadly illness. The services that volunteers will perform are going to the hospitals where patients are, while being properly equipped and sanitized, to support the patients and help them with any needs that may be deemed necessary to them, host annual walks and marathons that will raise money to support medical services, financial assistances to the patients and their families, do annual brunches and dinners, and give at-home care if needed. I will try my hardest to make sure that families are fully supported, educated properly, and prepared to tackle this illness with confidence and help and to make sure that these lovely ladies have the correct fighting chance to beat the cancer and receive the proper care that is needed.

The way that I have overcame adversity has been a process. I started out going through challenges and tough obstacles, and I was very afraid of facing them because I didn’t know how to, so I would avoid dealing with them and working through it. Once they became to much for me to deal with, I finally decided to open up to my family, close friends, and my therapist(s) and they all helped guide me into the right direction to face them on my own in the proper way. At first, it was tricky and scary due to the fact that I had pushed the challenges of the adversities away, but once I accepted them and learned what was the one thing that mainly targeted the start of the adversities, i created my own strategy to overcome them. First, I think to myself is this something that I can deal with on my own or do I need someone to help guide me through it. If it is something that I can tackle on my own, then I create solutions that would cause the adversity to either go away or minimize from happening. If it is something that I need someone else to help me with, I will first ask if they have every experience or dealt with the same or similar situation that I currently am dealing with, and depending on their response then I would determine the best way for me to about dealing with my situation in my way. After that, I would finally face whatever adversity and the challenge(s) that may come with it and use my solutions that I have created to help me through everything. Once I’ve tackled it and got through it, I look back what I went through and take the moral lesson from it and how it has helped me to move forward and better myself as a person in whole. The way that I wish to help my community in the future is to come back to my hometown, New Orleans, Louisiana, and pour knowledge and money back into my city by helping build it back up and give the youth resources to keep them out of trouble and make them feel that they can be someone in this lifetime and that their lives matter. I plan to also come back to help try and build up some of the abandoned buildings to house our homeless population because them staying on the street not having anywhere to go or anywhere to work is dangerous and unkind, so I want to be the person that breaks that barrier and give everyone the opportunity to turn their lives around and make something out of the life that they have left. Age doesn’t matter, and we all make mistakes, but the way that a person tackles their second chance matters and a lot of people deserve that second chance, especially in my hometown.