“With how hard, dangerous, and unapologetic this world can be, kids just need a lot of love, support, and protection.” my great grandma used to say. Before my great grandma passed away in November of 2019, she would always tell me about how she would take care of my dad when he was a little boy until he graduated college. She was such a caring and beautiful soul. She would always make sure to make her kids happy by checking in on them, making sure they were fed, buying them the necessities, and of course, spoiling them rotten. She was everyone’s favorite grandma even if you didn’t know her, she would always bring a kid into open arms. I’ve decided that I want to major in psychology to become a clinical child psychologist. I love working with children and I think mental health is majorly important, especially for children. I want to help kids. I want to be the person that kids can come to and tell me what’s wrong, why they feel the way they do-things that kids these days are too afraid to tell their parents about. I want to help children find a solution to their problems as best as I can. I don’t want to be limited to only doing things in a psychological field. I also want to go against the status quo and create a jewelry company. According to the website, “What to Become,” it states that “Women own 31% of small businesses or franchises in the US. 17% of black women are in the process of starting or running a new business.” I think it is important to keep making sure these numbers rise and by doing that it’s important to show others that it’s not impossible to be a female and a person of color in a both male dominated and Caucasian dominated industry. My great grandmother was a big advocate for women’s equality and she would want me to fight for it non-stop.

Being black in a predominantly Caucasian institution is scary. It’s already bad enough that we don’t learn much about African American history in school and that we have to deal racist slurs, but it’s even worse when the teachers and staff immediately assume that because you’re black, you’re dumb. I was in 7th grade and was in a lot of accelerated classes, including intermediate algebra. There were exactly 5 black people and 10 Caucasians. I wouldn’t necessarily say the subject itself was hard, but the teacher didn’t really know how to teach. 4 months into the first semester and everyone in the class had either a 76 or below. I was still trying my best to figure out what ways I could grasp onto the concepts better to earn an A in the class. One of those days me and the other 4 black kids got called into the office. The principal told us that she strongly thinks that we should move down a few math classes and told us how the math teacher doesn’t think we would pass with a B or higher. And what about the Caucasian students who are also struggling? Did they get this message too? No, absolutely not. They basically called us black kids out and told us we weren’t smart enough to be in a class of Caucasians. I told myself that I wasn’t going to give up and that I would pass that class, and guess what? I did, in fact, I ended up with the highest GPA in that class and went on to be a valedictorian of my graduating class at the same predominantly Caucasian school. This has taught me to never give up on myself because I am capable of way more than people limit me to be.

“Life has no limitations, except the ones you make,” once stated by Les Brown. When you make the decision to attend college or anything equivalent, you are making the decision to get a degree in a specific field. You take what you learn and run with it. You go start that business, you go become that doctor or nurse, you go pursue that career in music or theatre, the options are endless. However, as good as “following your dreams” sounds, what about if you have multiple dreams and goals that you want to pursue. Goals that don’t necessarily align with whatever you got your degree in. What if you want to become that doctor and open up your own coffee shop. Most of the time it feels like you’re in a tiny, confined black box, and you can never leave that space when it comes to careers and businesses. This quote means that that confined black box that you are in cannot contain you and limit you from the creative world outside that you are meant to paint. Why are we generating this black box? Because we are the ones that are limiting ourselves from our full capabilities. I want to become a clinical child’s psychiatrist and create a jewelry company. Those two paths have nothing in common, but I believe that it can happen, because I am not putting any limitations on my life.

“With how hard, dangerous, and unapologetic this world can be, kids just need a lot of love, support, and protection” my great grandma used to say. Before my great grandma passed away in November of 2019, she would always tell me about how she would take care of my dad when he was a little boy until he graduated college. She was such a caring and beautiful soul. She would always make sure to make her kids happy by checking in on them, making sure they were fed, buying them the necessities, and of course, spoiling them rotten. She was everyone’s favorite grandma even if you didn’t know her, she would always bring a kid in the community into open arms. After years of going back and forth between career choices and talks with my great grandmother and receiving advice from friends and other family members, I’ve figured out that one of my goals in life is to become a clinical child psychologist. I love working with children and I think mental health is majorly important, especially for children. I want to help kids. I want to be the person that kids can come to and tell me what’s wrong, why they feel the way they do-things that kids these days are too afraid to tell their parents about. I want to help children find a solution to their problems as best as I can. Another goal that aligns with me wanting to help children is opening some sort of foster care or orphanage system within my community. Although there are already foster care systems in the U.S, mine would have its differences that I think are important for the children. I would like to ensure that employees and volunteers were checked to the brim on their background such as: childhood, criminal records, address history, and social security validation. The reason being is to ensure that the children in the system will not be harmed physically, emotionally, and mentally. This will also make sure that all children are being treated equally. I want to incorporate an education system within the foster care or orphanage system because I believe in the importances of education. I want to make sure that once the children turn 18, they are very knowledgeable about what they really need to know to prepare them for the real world. Lastly, I would like to create a “support fund” that would ensure that the “aged-out” kids would receive monthly financial support. We need to recognize that kids under these circumstances have no support or place to go and they often have unmet mental health and dependency needs that go overlooked by the employees of the foster care system. Making this organization would help lower the high rates of suicide, homelessness, prison incarceration, murder, drug overdose death, and human trafficking among this age group of children. I had to learn how to come to terms with myself. All my life I felt like I was non stop trying to live up to everyone’s high expectations for me. People kept asking me “Why aren’t you choosing to be a lawyer?” I don’t want to be a lawyer, and I feel like I’m disappointing them when I say that. I had to learn that I need to make decisions for myself and not for the likeness of others because at the end of the day, the choices that are gonna make me happy are all that matters.

In this picture of my friends and I, I had created my good friend Liberty, a gift basket. This basket was created to cheer her up because on the previous night they had lost their ticket to playing at state and she was very upset about it. So to let her know she played hard and that she gave it her all I made her a gift basket with some of her favorite things or things she loves.

“Kids just need a lot of love and support.” my great grandma used to say. Before my great grandma passed away in November of 2019, she would always tell me about how she would take care of my dad when he was a little boy until he graduated college. She was such a caring and beautiful soul. She would always make sure to make her kids happy by checking in on them, making sure they were fed, buying them the necessities, and of course, spoiling them rotten. She was everyone’s favorite grandma even if you didn’t know her, she would always bring a kid into open arms. After years of going back and forth between career choices and talks with my great grandmother, I’ve figured out that one of my goals in life is to become a clinical child psychologist. I love working with children and I think mental health is majorly important, especially for children. I want to help kids. I want to be the person that kids can come to and tell me what’s wrong, why they feel the way they do-things that kids these days are too afraid to tell their parents about. I want to help children find a solution to their problems as best as I can. Another goal that aligns with me wanting to help children is opening some sort of foster care or orphanage system. Although there are already foster care systems in the U.S, mine would have its differences that I think are important for the children. I would like to ensure that employees and volunteers were checked to the brim on their background such as: childhood, criminal records, address history, and social security validation. The reasons being is to ensure that the children in the system will not be harmed physically, emotionally, and mentally. This will also make sure that all children are being treated equally. I want to incorporate an education system within the foster care or orphanage system because I believe the importances of education. I want to make sure that once the children turn 18, they are very knowledgeable about what they really need to know to prepare them for the real world. Lastly, I would like to create a “support fund” that would ensure that the “aged-out” kids would receive monthly financial support. We need to recognize that kids under these circumstances have no support or place to go and they often have unmet mental health and dependency needs that go overlooked by the employees of the foster care system. Making this organization would help lower the high rates of suicide, homelessness, prison incarceration, murder, drug overdose death, and human trafficking among this age group of children. Some accomplishments that I have made have been achieving the highest GPA of my class for two years in a row in high school, getting accepted into National Honors Society, and I was accepted into the 2019 “Del Quest Leadership” program. These things have all allowed me to have an opportunity to be a leader and show leadership to everyone around me. Because of these accomplishments I’ve found myself being a role model and inspiration to other people like my fellow classmates, underclassmen, and my younger siblings. I’m showing them how important it is to get educated and become a leader. I would like to educate myself on the topic of psychology even further than what I know now. But why college? I want a higher education, more than just a test book. I want to be a part of a community that revolutionizes ideas, shares multi-dynamical perspectives, and an environment filled with like minded people who care to make a difference. I see college as a supplement for knowledge, helping others, and self empowerment. To take big steps towards this goal, I am spreading mental awareness everywhere on social media and at school. Not only that, but I’m also working on bettering my mental health as well.

“Kids just need a lot of love and support.” my great grandma used to say. Before my great grandma passed away in November of 2019, she would always tell me about how she would take care of my dad when he was a little boy until he graduated college. She was such a caring and beautiful soul. She would always make sure to make her kids happy by checking in on them, making sure they were fed, buying them the necessities, and of course, spoiling them rotten. She was everyone’s favorite grandma even if you didn’t know her, she would always bring a kid into open arms. After years of going back and forth between career choices and talks with my great grandmother, I’ve figured out that one of my goals in life is to become a clinical child psychologist. I love working with children and I think mental health is majorly important, especially for children. I want to help kids. I want to be the person that kids can come to and tell me what’s wrong, why they feel the way they do-things that kids these days are too afraid to tell their parents about. I want to help children find a solution to their problems as best as I can. Another goal that aligns with me wanting to help children is opening some sort of foster care or orphanage system. Although there are already foster care systems in the U.S, mine would have its differences that I think are important for the children. I would like to ensure that employees and volunteers were checked to the brim on their background such as: childhood, criminal records, address history, and social security validation. The reasons being is to ensure that the children in the system will not be harmed physically, emotionally, and mentally. This will also make sure that all children are being treated equally. I want to incorporate an education system within the foster care or orphanage system because I believe the importances of education. I want to make sure that once the children turn 18, they are very knowledgeable about what they really need to know to prepare them for the real world. Lastly, I would like to create a “support fund” that would ensure that the “aged-out” kids would receive monthly financial support. We need to recognize that kids under these circumstances have no support or place to go and they often have unmet mental health and dependency needs that go overlooked by the employees of the foster care system. Making this organization would help lower the high rates of suicide, homelessness, prison incarceration, murder, drug overdose death, and human trafficking among this age group of children. Some accomplishments that I have made have been achieving the highest GPA of my class for two years in a row in high school, getting accepted into National Honors Society, and I was accepted into the 2019 “Del Quest Leadership” program. These things have all allowed me to have an opportunity to be a leader and show leadership to everyone around me. Because of these accomplishments I’ve found myself being a role model and inspiration to other people like my fellow classmates, underclassmen, and my younger siblings. I’m showing them how important it is to get educated and become a leader. I would like to educate myself on the topic of psychology even further than what I know now. But why college? I want a higher education, more than just a test book. I want to be a part of a community that revolutionizes ideas, shares multi-dynamical perspectives, and an environment filled with like minded people who care to make a difference. I see college as a supplement for knowledge, helping others, and self empowerment. To take big steps towards this goal, I am spreading mental awareness everywhere on social media and at school. Not only that, but I’m also working on bettering my mental health as well.

“Kids just need a lot of love and support.” my great grandma used to say. Before my great grandma passed away in November of 2019, she would always tell me about how she would take care of my dad when he was a little boy until he graduated college. She was such a caring and beautiful soul. She would always make sure to make her kids happy by checking in on them, making sure they were fed, buying them the necessities, and of course, spoiling them rotten. She was everyone’s favorite grandma even if you didn’t know her, she would always bring a kid into open arms. After years of going back and forth between career choices and talks with my great grandmother, I’ve figured out that one of my goals in life is to become a clinical child psychologist. I love working with children and I think mental health is majorly important, especially for children. I want to help kids. I want to be the person that kids can come to and tell me what’s wrong, why they feel the way they do-things that kids these days are too afraid to tell their parents about. I want to help children find a solution to their problems as best as I can. Another goal that aligns with me wanting to help children is opening some sort of foster care or orphanage system. Although there are already foster care systems in the U.S, mine would have its differences that I think are important for the children. I would like to ensure that employees and volunteers were checked to the brim on their background such as: childhood, criminal records, address history, and social security validation. The reasons being is to ensure that the children in the system will not be harmed physically, emotionally, and mentally. This will also make sure that all children are being treated equally. I want to incorporate an education system within the foster care or orphanage system because I believe the importances of education. I want to make sure that once the children turn 18, they are very knowledgeable about what they really need to know to prepare them for the real world. Lastly, I would like to create a “support fund” that would ensure that the “aged-out” kids would receive monthly financial support. We need to recognize that kids under these circumstances have no support or place to go and they often have unmet mental health and dependency needs that go overlooked by the employees of the foster care system. Making this organization would help lower the high rates of suicide, homelessness, prison incarceration, murder, drug overdose death, and human trafficking among this age group of children. Some accomplishments that I have made have been achieving the highest GPA of my class for two years in a row in high school, getting accepted into National Honors Society, and I was accepted into the 2019 “Del Quest Leadership” program. These things have all allowed me to have an opportunity to be a leader and show leadership to everyone around me. Because of these accomplishments I’ve found myself being a role model and inspiration to other people like my fellow classmates, underclassmen, and my younger siblings. I’m showing them how important it is to get educated and become a leader. I would like to educate myself on the topic of psychology even further than what I know now. But why college? I want a higher education, more than just a test book. I want to be a part of a community that revolutionizes ideas, shares multi-dynamical perspectives, and an environment filled with like minded people who care to make a difference. I see college as a supplement for knowledge, helping others, and self empowerment.

Going into high school started a lot of insecurities about my self. Ranging from my non straight teeth to my very very petite body shape. It honestly started when I was in grade school and there would be grown adults who would tell me “You don’t eat enough.” I began to develop self hatred for myself when a boy at my school called me anorexic and laughed. High school teachers would tell me that I need to start gaining weight. Boys at my school will come up to me and grab my wrist and say things like “you need to eat more” or “you need to gain some weight.” Through my whole high school career I believed I wasn’t good enough, and I would go on Instagram or TikTok and see girls with society’s “perfect body” and I would hate myself even more. I would always wish I looked better. When the new year began, I started working out and gaining healthy weight and becoming more confident in myself and skin. I started a self love journal where I would write down every physical, emotional, and mental thing about myself and why I love it. I became more comfortable with posting pictures of myself, just me, on social media, which to me was a very big step. Ever since then I’ve done nothing, but work on myself and show other girls with similar problems at my school that you’re beautiful no matter what. I hope to continue to spread the message to other people so they all have a sense of self love for theirselves.

To me, legacy means to add value on other people’s lives and leave behind a positive impact on others to inspire them. Getting people to know the real you, your true intentions, and what’s really in your heart are the most important steps to leaving a legacy behind. I believe that there are different kinds of valuable legacies you leave behind. It can range from donating to major charities that help people across the world to becoming a CEO of a major million dollar company to just being a caring and kind hearted person of a community. There are definitely different types of valuable legacies, but when it all comes down to it, it’s all about how many people’s lives you can change and impact for the better. I want to leave a legacy that shows people how to treat others, how to have a voice and stand up for what’s right, how to never give up on something, especially when others look down on you for it, and just someone that people can just look at my life and learn tons of lessons from and get inspiration from. I want to leave a legacy that encourages people to bring up creative ideas and projects, that leads people to entrepreneurship, and serving communities.