From the time I was a small child, my parents have instilled within me and my siblings, the idea that running our own business was the only way to go. The idea that being our own boss and never having to be subject to a company, or corporate hierarchy was truly the only path to pursue. Both my mother and father ran their own small companies, both separately and together throughout the years to varying degrees of success. They may not have become multi-millionaires in their endeavors, but they were, nonetheless, able to support me and my three siblings with the proceeds from their businesses. The first business I can remember was my mother's homemade fruit turnover business wherein the entire family would be in the kitchen, each of us with a different chore, working together to make her freshly-baked turnovers and pies and sell them locally. I can still remember the wonderful aroma of my mother's delicious pies, made from scratch by my entire family, baking in the oven. Subsequently, my mother studied and got her real estate license and became an agent, selling houses in the Los Angeles area. We would help her with her open houses, putting up signs, and sometimes cleaning up the properties in order to prepare them for showing. My father, on the other hand, started a home remodeling company with a friend of his and for several years, working around the Southern California area doing construction and custom remodeling. When times were leaner, my parents (each very creative individuals in their own right) started their own graphic design business where they designed items like business cards, posters, flyers, and brochures, etc. for local businesses. They would always do whatever it took to keep food on the table and a roof over our heads. This taught us all great lessons about self-sufficiency and the entrepreneurial spirit. Sometime later, my mother began catering for events cooking her delicious West African cuisine. Again, we all pitched in to help her cook and then serve her food at private events put on by her customers. Eventually, she was able to open a restaurant with a partner. The restaurant was quite popular. The grand opening event was very successful with people lined up outside to get in and was even attended by film director Ryan Googler (Black Panther) as well as a few other well-known individuals. Unfortunately, the restaurant had to close due to issues with my mother's partner not holding up his end of their agreement so my mother went back to private catering out of our home. After seventeen years of seeing my parents always owning one business or another of their own, I decided to open a business of my own. I started Beignets Du Monde in the summer of 2020 (https://bestbeignets.com/). I specialize in fresh-made beignets, a beignet is a deep-fried fritter popular in New Orleans, usually covered with powdered sugar and served with a choice of sweet condiments like blueberry or strawberry compote and chocolate sauce. I began taking orders from across the country shipping from Los Angeles to as far as Virginia and Connecticut. Eventually, I had to discontinue shipping due to the inability to keep my products fresh. Now, I have limited my sales to local customers with my brother making deliveries in order to guarantee that they are delivered fresh. With whatever profits I get from Beignets Du Monde I save for my college tuition but it is far less than I will need to pay for my college education, thus, my need for scholarship and grant monies. Thank you

My name is Layla Anise Waller, I am 17 years of age and a senior, graduating from Hawthorne Math and Science Academy this coming June; HMSA is ranked in the top 100 High schools in the nation and top 10 in California. I was accepted into HMSA due to my middle school academic record as the school has a strict admissions policy and only accepts high-achieving students. Among several universities to which I applied and was accepted, I chose to attend Hawaii Pacific University (HPU) due to their exemplary programs in my chosen field(s) of study. I hope to be attending this coming fall, if financially feasible. As a child of divorce, coming from a lower-income family of seven in Hawthorne, CA (near Los Angeles) I grew up in a very tumultuous household. It was very difficult to concentrate on my studies let alone excel in school. Eventually, I learned to shut out the chaos and lose myself in books. That helped me to overcome the period before my parents' eventual divorce and my father leaving the home. I love both of my parents very much but they are definitely better apart. A few years later, my father was diagnosed with incurable, metastatic prostate cancer which rendered him paraplegic. He was hospitalized for two long years, we visited him when we could. This was a very distressing time for me as I worried dearly about my father’s mortality. Eventually, my dad was discharged from the hospital and has been fighting his illness for several years. Although he puts on a brave face, I can often see the pain in his eyes, this saddens me greatly. Through the years of emotional pain and distress, I have thankfully emerged whole, with my future ahead of me, bound for college. I consider myself an artist by nature and a lover of animals. I am fascinated by different cultures and languages; and, I am currently teaching myself Korean and speak some French, Arabic, and Japanese. Art is my passion, it allows me to express myself in ways that I find difficult to in reality. I often lose myself while creating art pieces in acrylics, pencil, and oil paint. Learning different languages and learning about disparate cultures makes me feel more connected to the world. My ultimate passion, however, is protecting animals. Having adopted, cared for, and nursed back to health several rescue pets. With college, I plan to major in biology, minor in art, and go into veterinary medicine where I can do my part to aid in healing sick and injured animals. I want to enhance my leadership skills, further explore any talents I might have as an artist, and learn more about other cultures through language studies at HPU. I look forward to leaving home to study as I have lived my entire, rather sheltered existence in Hawthorne. I am anxious to meet students from diverse backgrounds and gain knowledge in my chosen areas of study. Later on, I plan to launch non-profit organizations that aid in protecting our endangered environment as well as in-need animals.

From the time I was a small child, my parents have instilled within me and my siblings, the idea that running our own business was the only way to go. The idea that being our own boss and never having to be subject to a company, or corporate hierarchy was truly the only path to pursue. Both my mother and father ran their own small companies, both separately and together throughout the years to varying degrees of success. They may not have become multi-millionaires in their endeavors, but they were, nonetheless, able to support me and my three siblings with the proceeds from their businesses. The first business I can remember was my mother's homemade fruit turnover business wherein the entire family would be in the kitchen, each of us with a different chore, working together to make her freshly-baked turnovers and pies and sell them locally. I can still remember the wonderful aroma of my mother's delicious pies, made from scratch by my entire family, baking in the oven. Subsequently, my mother studied and got her real estate license and became an agent, selling houses in the Los Angeles area. We would help her with her open houses, putting up signs, and sometimes cleaning up the properties in order to prepare them for showing. My father, on the other hand, started a home remodeling company with a friend of his and for several years, working around the Southern California area doing construction and custom remodeling. When times were leaner, my parents (each very creative individuals in their own right) started their own graphic design business where they designed items like business cards, posters, flyers, and brochures, etc. for local businesses. They would always do whatever it took to keep food on the table and a roof over our heads. This taught us all great lessons about self-sufficiency and the entrepreneurial spirit. Sometime later, my mother began catering for events cooking her delicious West African cuisine. Again, we all pitched in to help her cook and then serve her food at private events put on by her customers. Eventually, she was able to open a restaurant with a partner. The restaurant was quite popular. The grand opening event was very successful with people lined up outside to get in and was even attended by film director Ryan Googler (Black Panther) as well as a few other well-known individuals. Unfortunately, the restaurant had to close due to issues with my mother's partner not holding up his end of their agreement so my mother went back to private catering out of our home. After seventeen years of seeing my parents always owning one business or another of their own, I decided to open a business of my own. I started Beignets Du Monde in the summer of 2020 (https://bestbeignets.com/). I specialize in fresh-made beignets, a beignet is a deep-fried fritter popular in New Orleans, usually covered with powdered sugar and served with a choice of sweet condiments like blueberry or strawberry compote and chocolate sauce. I began taking orders from across the country shipping from Los Angeles to as far as Virginia and Connecticut. Eventually, I had to discontinue shipping due to the inability to keep my products fresh. Now, I have limited my sales to local customers with my brother making deliveries in order to guarantee that they are delivered fresh. With whatever profits I get from Beignets Du Monde I save for my college tuition but it is far less than I will need to pay for my college education, thus, my need for scholarship and grant monies. Thank you

My name is Layla Anise Waller, I am 17 and graduating from Hawthorne Math and Science Academy this coming June; HMSA is ranked in the top 100 High schools in the nation and top 10 in California. I was accepted into HMSA due to my middle school academic record as the school has a strict admissions policy and only accepts high-achieving students. Among several universities to which I applied and was accepted, I chose to attend Hawaii Pacific University (HPU) due to their exemplary programs in my chosen field(s) of study. I hope to be attending this coming fall, if financially feasible. As a child of divorce, coming from a lower-income family of seven in Hawthorne, CA (near Los Angeles) I grew up in a very tumultuous household. It was very difficult to concentrate on my studies let alone excel in school. Eventually, I learned to shut out the chaos and lose myself in books. That helped me to overcome the period before my parents eventual divorce and my father leaving the home. I love both of my parents very much but they are definitely better apart. A few years later, my father was diagnosed with incurable, metastatic prostate cancer which rendered him paraplegic. He was hospitalized for two long years, we visited him when we could. This was a very distressing time for me as I worried dearly about my father’s mortality. Eventually, my dad was discharged from the hospital and has been fighting his illness for several years since. Although he puts on a brave face, I can often see the pain in his eyes, this saddens me greatly. Through the years of emotional pain and distress, I have thankfully emerged whole, with my future ahead of me, bound for college. I consider myself an artist by nature and a lover of animals. I am fascinated by different cultures and languages; and, I am currently teaching myself Korean. Art is my passion, it allows me to express myself in ways that I find difficult to in reality, and learning about different languages and cultures makes me feel more connected to the world. My ultimate passion however, is protecting animals. Having adopted, cared for, and nursed back to health several rescue pets. With college, I plan to major in biology and go into veterinary medicine where I can do my part to aid in the healing of sick and injured animals. I want to enhance my leadership skills, further explore any talents I might have as an artist, and learn more about other cultures through language studies at HPU. I look forward to leaving home to study as I have lived my entire, rather sheltered existence in Hawthorne. I am anxious to meet students from diverse backgrounds and gain knowledge in my chosen areas of study. Later on, I plan to launch non-profit organizations that aid in protecting the environment and animals alike.

My name is Layla Anise Waller, I am 17 and graduating from Hawthorne Math and Science Academy this coming June; HMSA is ranked in the top 100 High schools in the nation and top 10 in California. I was accepted into HMSA due to my middle school academic record as the school has a strict admissions policy and only accepts high-achieving students. Among several universities to which I applied and was accepted, I chose to attend Hawaii Pacific University (HPU) due to their exemplary programs in my chosen field(s) of study. I hope to be attending this coming fall, if financially feasible. As a child of divorce, coming from a lower-income family of seven in Hawthorne, CA (near Los Angeles) I grew up in a very tumultuous household. It was very difficult to concentrate on my studies let alone excel in school. Eventually, I learned to shut out the chaos and lose myself in books. That helped me to overcome the period before my parents eventual divorce and my father leaving the home. I love both of my parents very much but they are definitely better apart. A few years later, my father was diagnosed with incurable, metastatic prostate cancer which rendered him paraplegic. He was hospitalized for two long years, we visited him when we could. This was a very distressing time for me as I worried dearly about my father’s mortality. Eventually, my dad was discharged from the hospital and has been fighting his illness for several years since. Although he puts on a brave face, I can often see the pain in his eyes, this saddens me greatly. Through the years of emotional pain and distress, I have thankfully emerged whole, with my future ahead of me, bound for college. I consider myself an artist by nature and a lover of animals. I am fascinated by different cultures and languages; and, I am currently teaching myself Korean. Art is my passion, it allows me to express myself in ways that I find difficult to in reality, and learning about different languages and cultures makes me feel more connected to the world. My ultimate passion however, is protecting animals. Having adopted, cared for, and nursed back to health several rescue pets. With college, I plan to major in biology and go into veterinary medicine where I can do my part to aid in the healing of sick and injured animals. I want to enhance my leadership skills, further explore any talents I might have as an artist, and learn more about other cultures through language studies at HPU. I look forward to leaving home to study as I have lived my entire, rather sheltered existence in Hawthorne. I am anxious to meet students from diverse backgrounds and gain knowledge in my chosen areas of study. Later on, I plan to launch non-profit organizations that aid in protecting the environment and animals alike.