My primary career goal is to run a bakery that would also double as a teaching center for those who want to learn how to bake but don’t have the resources. I love baking, one of my favorite desserts being a traditional vanilla bean cheesecake. I’ve worked as a baker before, once on a college campus and another time in a higher-end restaurant where I made most of their desserts. Growing up, I had an interest in baking but didn’t have a surplus of supplies to allow myself to make mistakes. I didn’t grow up well-off so I couldn’t bake all the time with the price of ingredients. But lucky for me, when I got into high-school I discovered that I could go to a vocational school part-time to take a culinary arts program. I joined my sophomore year and stayed there through my senior year, graduated with a certification in SERV Safe Food Manager, First Aid, CPR, and three years worth for restaurant experience. I want to give that opportunity to others, letting them learn how to bake with being able to make mistakes and learn from them. In my mind, making mistakes is a crucial part in leaving how to cook or bake. I’ve learned a lot from my culinary teachers letting me make mistakes and explaining to me what I did wrong and how I can prevent it next time. From them, I learned the importance of making mistakes, and it’s what led me to choosing baking as my career goal. I want to be able to donate to back to organizations that helped me when I was younger, such as the YMCA who gives out bags of food for families that may be struggling financially. Going to a trade school part-time, I got to volunteer to help fill those bags which made me feel wonderful that I was giving back. However, I want to be able to do more and that starts with my career in baking. I want to insight others to volunteer and help within their communities.

Truthfully, mental health was something I had always on the back burner when I was younger. While I had listened to teachers talk about mental health sometimes, the occasional reminder during suicide prevention month that it was okay to ask for help. However, at the time, I was convinced that my problems weren’t big enough to talk about, that despite the many adversities that I was facing at the time, it wasn’t worth talking about. I didn't want to talk to anyone fearing that I was simply abnormal and that I would be ridiculed. In middle school, I struggled with my body weight shifting due to puberty and the very normal change of a female body. To me, I felt terrible and couldn’t look at myself in a mirror. I was going back and forth between eating too much and eating too little, constantly checking my weight. It took a big toll on my health, physically and mentally. Then, I took to reading books about other people with these same issues, reading about others struggling with thoughts of self-harm. That’s when I took to baking as a coping mechanism, something to focus on and made me proud of the outcome. I didn’t grow up well-off so I couldn’t bake all the time with the price of ingredients. But lucky for me, when I got into high-school I discovered that I could go to a vocational school part-time to take a culinary arts program. I joined my sophomore year and stayed there through my senior year, graduated with a certification in SERV Safe Food Manager, First Aid, CPR, and three years worth for restaurant experience. During that time, I had my ups and downs with my mental health. I still wasn’t willing to admit that I could have mental health issues as it wasn’t a subject that my family often spoke about. I started getting into smoking weed and vaping, feeling like the nicotine rush was helping despite the negative effects. But, in my junior year, I met my current boyfriend. He had struggled with anxiety and depression his whole life and helped me accept that what I was feeling wasn’t something impossible to help. He reassured me about the process of getting medicated, seeking therapy and finding time to care for myself. Thanks to him, I am now on medication for my depression and anxiety. Since then, I've also quit smoking both weed and nicotine. I’ve gained insight about mental health that I wouldn’t have understood otherwise without him, knowing that I’m not a burden for needing to talk about my feelings and that it’s okay to need help sometimes. Now, I’m looking forward to attending The Culinary Institute of America for an Associate’s Degree in Baking and Pastry Arts. My primary career goal is to run a bakery that would also double as a teaching center for those who want to learn how to bake but don’t have the resources. I want to help others struggling with the same issues.

Truthfully, mental health was something I had always on the back burner when I was younger. While I had listened to teachers talk about mental health sometimes, the occasional reminder during suicide presentation month that it was okay to ask for help. However, at the time, I was convinced that my problems weren't big enough to talk about, that despite the many adversities that I was facing at the time, it wasn't worth talking about. In middle school, I struggled with my body weight shifting due to puberty and the very normal change of a female body. To me, I felt terrible and couldn't look at myself in a mirror. I was going back and forth between eating too much and eating too little, constantly checking my weight. It took a big toll on my health, physically and mentally. Then, I took to reading books about other people with these same issues, reading about others struggling with thoughts of self-harm. That's when I took to baking as a coping mechanism, something to focus on and made me proud of the outcome. I didn't grow up well-off so I couldn't bake all the time with the price of ingredients. But lucky for me, when I got into high-school I discovered that I could go to a vocational school part-time to take a culinary arts program. I joined my sophomore year and stayed there through my senior year, graduated with a certification in SERV Safe Food Manager, First Aid, CPR, and three years worth for restaurant experience. During that time, I had my ups and downs with my mental health. I still wasn't willing to admit that I could have mental health issues as it wasn't a subject that my family often spoke about. But, in my junior year, I met my current boyfriend. He had struggled with anxiety and depression his whole life and helped me accept that what I was feeling wasn't something impossible to help. He reassured me about the process of getting medicated, seeking therapy and finding time to care for myself. Thanks to him, I am now on medication for my depression and anxiety. I've gained insight about mental health that I wouldn't have understood otherwise without him, knowing that I'm not a burden for needing to talk about my feelings and that it's okay to need help sometimes. Now, I'm looking forward to attending The Culinary Institute of America for an Associate's Degree in Baking and Pastry Arts. My primary career goal is to run a bakery that would also double as a teaching center for those who want to learn how to bake but don’t have the resources.

Books has taught me almost as many lessons as life did. I got into reading at a young age, finding interest in silly books like Junie B. Jones and Dork Diaries. They did get old quicker as I found that my reading level was higher and I could understand some of the books the older kids read. I started with a novel that I still cherish today, "The Book Thief" by Megan Whalen Turner. Something about it just drew me in and I was hooked from then on. I would be up late, way past my bedtime with a little flashlight reading Harry Potter. From those books, I learned a love for writing and that I could write about anything my heart desired. When I got older, I began to struggle with my mental health as my family lived in a small motel room behind a diner for about a year. I was struggling with the changes of a growing female body, gaining weight and getting acne. I felt like a freak because while other girls my age were still skinny while I had gained weight in my hips and thighs. So, I read. I found books about girls struggling with anorexia, girls who were naturally heavier, girls who struggled with mental issues. From these books, I learned that gaining weight was normal and I didn't need to starve myself to be pretty. In high school, I went to a culinary class for half the day and discovered a love for baking. I went from horror and mystery novels to recipe books. I drifted from reading, finding myself to busy with school work, a job, and after-school catering events. The biggest diversion was a boy who I talked to on and off for years prior. It was an online relationship that drained me mentally between all of my other responsibilities. I found myself ignoring my own boundaries for him, ignoring my own mental health for the sake of his. During my junior year, I met my current boyfriend in my second year of that culinary class who also had a love for reading. We bonded about books we've read and love for culinary arts. Eventually, after talking with him and a few of my friends, me and that boy ended things. It hurt a lot despite the fact that I knew it was better for me, so I took to books. I read some of the books that my now boyfriend recommended to me and a few novels that related to the situation I had been in. From that, I learned that I shouldn't give all of myself up for the benefit of a person and at of the day, I had to take care of myself and my body. Me and my boyfriend have been dating for about a year and a half and we are still avid readers. Right now, he's away at college for Culinary Arts and I'll be joining him soon for an Associate's Degree in Baking and Pastry. Books have taught me so many lessons and have solidified what I want to do with my life.

Truthfully, mental health was something I had always on the back burner when I was younger. While I had listened to teachers talk about mental health sometimes, the occasional reminder during suicide presentation month that it was okay to ask for help. However, at the time, I was convinced that my problems weren't big enough to talk about, that despite the many adversities that I was facing at the time, it wasn't worth talking about. In middle school, I struggled with my body weight shifting due to puberty and the very normal change of a female body. To me, I felt terrible and couldn't look at myself in a mirror. I was going back and forth between eating too much and eating too little, constantly checking my weight. It took a big toll on my health, physically and mentally. Then, I took to reading books about other people with these same issues, reading about others struggling with thoughts of self-harm. That's when I took to baking as a coping mechanism, something to focus on and made me proud of the outcome. I didn't grow up well-off so I couldn't bake all the time with the price of ingredients. But lucky for me, when I got into high-school I discovered that I could go to a vocational school part-time to take a culinary arts program. I joined my sophomore year and stayed there through my senior year, graduated with a certification in SERV Safe Food Manager, First Aid, CPR, and three years worth for restaurant experience. During that time, I had my ups and downs with my mental health. I still wasn't willing to admit that I could have mental health issues as it wasn't a subject that my family often spoke about. But, in my junior year, I met my current boyfriend. He had struggled with anxiety and depression his whole life and helped me accept that what I was feeling wasn't something impossible to help. He reassured me about the process of getting medicated, seeking therapy and finding time to care for myself. Thanks to him, I am now on medication for my depression and anxiety. I've gained insight about mental health that I wouldn't have understood otherwise without him, knowing that I'm not a burden for needing to talk about my feelings and that it's okay to need help sometimes. Now, I'm looking forward to attending The Culinary Institute of America for an Associate's Degree in Baking and Pastry Arts. My primary career goal is to run a bakery that would also double as a teaching center for those who want to learn how to bake but don’t have the resources.

My primary career goal is to run a bakery that would also double as a teaching center for those who want to learn how to bake but don’t have the resources. I grew up not knowing where I fell in class, juggling between lower and middle. There have been many adversities in my life, the biggest one being when I was living in a motel room with my family. I was around thirteen at the time, sharing a bed with my younger sister while my parents slept in the other one in a small motel room behind a diner. It was hard on all of us, my parents trying to make money and find an affordable apartment to house all of us while I was going into middle school hoping that no one knew about our situation. Shortly after that, my sister and I moved into my big sister’s house after my mom got sick. Due to being younger, I don’t remember exactly how long she was in the hospital for but I know it was a couple of months while my dad was working. But despite the adversities, I got through high school, went to a trade school for culinary arts where I graduated with a Food Manager certification and a love for baking. Years later, my parents have just bought a house for all of us to live in and I’m incredibly grateful. Growing up, I had an interest in baking but didn’t have a surplus of supplies to allow myself to make mistakes. I want to give that opportunity to others, letting them learn how to bake with being able to make mistakes and learn from them. In my mind, making mistakes is a crucial part in leaving how to cook or bake. I’ve learned a lot from my culinary teachers letting me make mistakes and explaining to me what I did wrong and how I can prevent it next time. From them, I learned the importance of making mistakes, and it’s what led me to choosing baking as my career goal. Now, I plan on going to the Culinary Institute of America to pursue baking and pastry as a career where I can give back to my community. I want to be able to donate to back to organizations that helped me when I was younger, such as the YMCA who gives out bags of food for families that may be struggling financially. Going to a trade school part-time, I got to volunteer to help fill those bags which made me feel wonderful that I was giving back. However, I want to be able to do more and that starts with my career in baking. I want to insight others to volunteer and help within their communities.

The whole reason I began to write was as a creative outlet for my real life frustrations. I started writing when I already twelve when my English teacher gave us homework assignments to write short stories, only around 4 pages or so. At the time, my mom was having health issues and while I had gotten into private school on an academic scholarship, it was expensive to keep us there. Writing about my struggles as an African-American girl in a private predominantly white school helped me work through my emotions. (I later read The Hate You Give and felt my emotions understood by someone else, someone who knew what it felt to talk differently to different groups.) I wrote on a flimsy Chromebook in Google Docs, creating subpar novels that I dreamed one day might hit shelves. At the time, it was an escape from the life I was living while my mom was recovering from a surgery in the hospital. It was easier to write about someone else going through the same thing as persevering so I could have some hope for myself. My mom did get better and I went into high school a little brighter. However, I did then struggle with weight issues and I found myself writing again in order to understand why I thought the way I did. Writing helped me through it, not just my own short stories but reading other's works. I read novels about girls going through the same thing. While in the beginning I envied the skinny small girls, the more I read, the more I understood that I didn't need to be skinny to be pretty. Now, it is hard somedays but writing helps along with my wonderful support system. Unfortunately, I didn't pursue my love for writing after discovering the harsh reality of publishing and the expensive path of self-publishing. Instead, I'm going from Baking and Pastry Arts after discovering that I loved it just as much as writing. In a perfect world, I would love to continue my education in creative writing but sadly, it didn't turn out that way. One day, I want to write novels for people who struggled how I did, something that they can relate to or maybe fantasy novels where they can escape how I did and come back a little clearer. Despite choosing a different career path, I hope that one day I can find myself continuing my interest in writing through community college.

I grew up not knowing where I fell in class, juggling between lower and middle. There have been many adversities in my life, the biggest one being when I was living in a motel room with my family. I was around thirteen at the time, sharing a bed with my younger sister while my parents slept in the other one in a small motel room behind a diner. It was hard on all of us, my parents trying to make money and find an affordable apartment to house all of us while I was going into middle school hoping that no one knew about our situation. Shortly after that, my sister and I moved into my big sister’s house after my mom got sick. Due to being younger, I don’t remember exactly how long she was in the hospital for but I know it was a couple of months while my dad was working. But despite the adversities, I got through high school, went to a trade school for culinary arts where I graduated with a Food Manager certification and a love for baking. Years later, my parents have just bought a house for all of us to live in and I’m incredibly grateful. Now, I plan on going to the Culinary Institute of America to pursue baking and pastry as a career where I can give back to my community. My primary career goal is to run a bakery that would also double as a teaching center for those who want to learn how to bake but don’t have the resources.

I grew up not knowing where I fell in class, juggling between lower and middle. There have been many adversities in my life, the biggest one being when I was living in a motel room with my family. I was around thirteen at the time, sharing a bed with my younger sister while my parents slept in the other one in a small motel room behind a diner. It was hard on all of us, my parents trying to make money and find an affordable apartment to house all of us while I was going into middle school hoping that no one knew about our situation. Shortly after that, my sister and I moved into my big sister's house after my mom got sick. Due to being younger, I don't remember exactly how long she was in the hospital for but I know it was a couple of months while my dad was working. But despite the adversities, I got through high school, went to a trade school for culinary arts where I graduated with a Food Manager certification and a love for baking. Years later, my parents have just bought a house for all of us to live in and I'm incredibly grateful. Now, I plan on going to the Culinary Institute of America to pursue baking and pastry as a career where I can give back to my community. My primary career goal is to run a bakery that would also double as a teaching center for those who want to learn how to bake but don’t have the resources. Growing up, I had an interest in baking but didn’t have a surplus of supplies to allow myself to make mistakes. I want to give that opportunity to others, letting them learn how to bake with being able to make mistakes and learn from them. In my mind, making mistakes is a crucial part in leaving how to cook or bake. I’ve learned a lot from my culinary teachers letting me make mistakes and explaining to me what I did wrong and how I can prevent it next time. From them, I learned the importance of making mistakes, and it’s what led me to choosing baking as my career goal. I want to be able to donate to back to organizations that helped me when I was younger, such as the YMCA who gives out bags of food for families that may be struggling financially. I want to insight others to volunteer and help within their communities.

My ideal bookshelf would be full of romance, fantasy, horror and a few classics. Admittedly, I tend to go for books that cause high emotions with either very happy or very sad. I have a good amount of books already such 1984, Frankenstein, The Fault in Our Stars, and the Return of the Prodigal Son. There are many books that I've read that I wish to have physically copy such as my childhood favorite, The Book Thief by Megan Turner. There are many BookTok recommendations that I would alike to own like The Things We Leave Unfinished, No Longer Human, The Catcher in the Rye. I'm going to start with a book that I hated, one deeply loved by the BookTok community. It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover. It is heavily debated in the community with half of them raving over the book while others despise it. Now my disliking for the book isn't as simple as the writing style but instead the contents of the books and how they were portrayed. One of the more notable themes in It Ends with Us is the theme of domestic abuse shown in both the relationship of Lily Bloom and Ryle Kincaid along with the parents of Lily Bloom. My biggest issue with the way that Hoover portrays this theme is that towards the end of the book, Lily keeps a relationship with Ryle despite him repeatedly hurting her. However, I didn't bring up this novel just to talk about how much I disliked it because I believe that it offers a learning stand point for others to learn what isn't acceptable in a relationship. A book from the BookTok community that I loved was "The Hate U Give." Being an African-American girl who went a private Catholic school, I related to the main character, Starr Carter, a lot. I got the book from my boyfriend but I had tried to read it previously and found myself uncomfortable. I related too much to her, about changing myself to match my white classmates such as changing my dialect and speaking a friendly tone at all times. A lot of other People of Color felt the same and the themes of death and police brutality brought knowledge to those who may not know. It gives people the perspective of people who have been directly affected by police brutality, showing how Starr copes with grief and the struggles that she faces.

A gritty mindset is something I embodied very quickly through tough circumstances. There was a point in my life where I lived in a motel room with my parents and my little sisters, two beds and every two weeks we had to rotate rooms. My parents are hard-workers and we lived in that motel for around a year before my parents got us into an apartment. I didn't go hungry then, my parents made sure it. Whether it was through our food stamps, going to food drive, donating plasma. Since then, my parents have just bought a house and we will be moving in September. My mother, who I am grateful for everyday, was the one who first taught me how to move through hardships. A more recent hardship that has come up is me not being able to afford college. Sadly, I now have to attend next semester instead of this upcoming one. It's hit me hard as I remember being so excited from being accepted into the Culinary Institute of America for my Associate's Degree in Baking and Pastry. Located in New York, I visited the campus once to see my boyfriend who is also a student there. I went through New York City, visited many shops and got to eat various types of foods. It was hard to accept that I had to wait because I've been around the campus, seen the dorm rooms, the common areas, make friends with people, and was so excited to be there, but I'm ready to work towards the next semester so I can be in attendance. My dream is to start a bakeshop where I can teach others to bake without the worry of buying expensive ingredients. A low cost to make a reservation where they can learn how to bake simple pastries that may seem incredibly hard from an outside perspective. I've always loved to bake but at the time, I couldn't experiment because I wasn't able to make mistakes without it feeling like I was wasting a bunch of money. I want to get rid of that fear for others, so that they can learn to bake, experience how to make a mistake and how to fix it. I want kids to be able to bake cookies and brownies without the fear of messing it up. Success for me being a comfortable place with my partner where we both are doing our dream jobs and can live a nice life while also helping others. I want to be able to make enough to where I can give back to my community like how they helped me and my family. Success is teaching people how to bake on their own at a low cost alongside a regular bakery run on the side. That success comes hard work, determination and this scholarship would help to achieve this dream. It's a big dream I know, but I also know that's what I want to in life and I'm going to keep working towards that goal despite the obstacles that might come my way.

A gritty mindset is something I embodied very quickly through tough circumstances. There was a point in my life where I lived in a motel room with my parents and my little sisters, two beds and every two weeks we had to rotate rooms. My parents are hard-workers and we lived in that motel for around a year before my parents got us into an apartment. I didn't go hungry then, my parents made sure it. Whether it was through our food stamps, going to food drive, donating plasma. Since then, my parents have just bought a house and we will be moving in September. My mother, who I am grateful for everyday, was the one who first taught me how to move through hardships. A more recent hardship that has come up is me not being able to afford college. Sadly, I now have to attend next semester instead of this upcoming one. It's hit me hard as I remember being so excited from being accepted into the Culinary Institute of America for my Associate's Degree in Baking and Pastry. Located in New York, I visited the campus once to see my boyfriend who is also a student there. It was hard to accept that I had to wait because I've been around the campus, seen the dorm rooms, the common areas, make friends with people, and was so excited to be there, but I'm ready to work towards the next semester so I can be in attendance. My dream is to start a bakeshop where I can teach others to bake without the worry of buying expensive ingredients. A low cost to make a reservation where they can learn how to bake simple pastries that may seem incredibly hard from an outside perspective. I've always loved to bake but at the time, I couldn't experiment because I wasn't able to make mistakes without it feeling like I was wasting a bunch of money. I want to get rid of that fear for others, so that they can learn to bake, experience how to make a mistake and how to fix it. I want kids to be able to bake cookies and brownies without the fear of messing it up. It's a big dream I know but I know that's what I want to in life and I'm going to keep working towards that goal despite the obstacles that might come my way.

Embodying the B.A.B.Y.L.O.V.E spirit for me is done through helping others without expecting anything in return, more so the hope that they pass that spirit along. I've done a lot of volunteer work because I was in a culinary program at a trade school. There were some mandatory ones like weddings to cater or setting up dinner for the school board, those were fun. But one that I found to be most enjoyable for me was YMCA Backpacks. We filled up grocery bags with fruit, granola bars, applesauce, drinks, ramen packets and set them to be donated to those who couldn't afford it. I made sure to treat these items with care because I remembered a time where I used to get those bags with ramen packets, canned spaghetti, Capri-suns and little cups of fruit. There was a point in my life where I lived in a motel room with my parents and my little sisters, two beds and every two weeks we had to rotate rooms. I didn't go hungry then, my parents made sure it. Whether it was through our food stamps, going to food drive, donating plasma. Since then, my parents have just bought a house and we will be moving in September. My mother, who I am grateful for everyday, was the one who first taught to be kind and help others. She has given that B.A.B.Y.L.O.V.E spirit and I want to keep that going. I've been accepted into the Culinary Institute of America for my Associate's Degree in Baking and Pastry and I already know what I want to do with that degree. I want to start a bakeshop where I can teach others to bake without the worry of buying expensive ingredients. A low cost to make a reservation where they can learn how to bake simple pastries that may seem incredibly hard from an outside perspective. I've always loved to bake but at the time, I couldn't experiment because I wasn't able to make mistakes without it feeling like I was wasting a bunch of money. I want to get rid of that fear for others, so that they can learn to bake, experience how to make a mistake and how to fix it. I want kids to be able to bake cookies and brownies without the fear of messing it up. It's a big dream I know but I know that's what I want to in life.

April 17th, 2024 My name is Leila R’Kordey Williams, a seventeen-year-old culinary student at Sentinel Career and Technology Center. I’m due to go to the Culinary Institute of America in Fall 2024 for Baking and Pastry Arts. In my younger years, food was a delicacy. Not for its taste and the intricacy of the dishes but due to its scarcity. That isn’t to say that we had nothing but I grew used to most of my dinner coming from a microwave in plastic packaging. We weren't poor but we weren't well-off, simple middle-class citizens in unfortunate circumstances. We moved from place to place and most years, I had no goals for the future. A career in the culinary industry was nowhere in sight as at the time, we didn’t have the resources for me to experiment. But, around the holidays, I was able to bake. I enjoyed everything about it from the prep, the mixing, the baking, the decorating, and the joy that came from it. Luckily, in high school, I was given the chance to attend a trade school, Sentinel Career and Technology Center. That was my first introduction into the culinary industry, getting a glimpse beyond my home kitchen. Admittedly, I struggled at the start, going from knowing almost nothing to being taught in a commercial kitchen was a drastic change. But I had a great teacher, Ms. Tracey Kardotzke. She helped me find a job where I worked as a baker for college students. I met many people who shared my same interests and were working to the same goal. In this program, I met my boyfriend who is going to the Culinary Institute of America this April for Culinary Arts. I go in the Fall for Baking and Pastry Arts. With his support and the support of many others, I've been able to continue this passion of mine. I was able to rekindle a childhood love for baking because of them along with a hope to continue my education in Baking and Pastry. I want to learn more in that field in hopes of reaching a point where I can create desserts for people who are in the same situation I used to be in. I want a create a caring community where I help other people learn to bake, to give the same joy that I've felt while baking. To help others who can't afford to bake or cook would be a dream. Baking is joy that I wish to share with as many people as possible. While owning a bakery would be great, a bigger goal of mine is to start a baking class where I can provide resources for others would like to learn but don't have the funds.