I'm not sure sure what I contribute to my community, I donate clothes though. I donate every week to a month or so. It may not be much, but I like to give stuff I don't need or use to those who need it and will use it. I support my community by staying out of trouble and focusing on my education, it may sound silly but staying out of trouble and keeping one in check helps our community a lot. Where I'm from it's pretty dangerous and hard so it's hard to contribute to the community when your own community doesn't appreciate it and it back fires on you. Don't get me wrong, my community can be great sometimes and I love some of the people here, but most times it's not so friendly and I really wish they were. My plans for the future is to pursue my bachelors degree in accounting and run small business and do my thing. I want to do my best for my mom, she's done everything for us and I want to repay it back by showing her she's enough and that she's the reason I'm striving and doing my best. My mom is an immigrant so it's hard to find a job that will hire her, she's had jobs before but they've fired her. Her long time job finally fired her and it broke my moms heart, she's worked there most of her time in the US, she's been here for more than 20 years and she works her butt off every single day. Since my mom is unemployed at the moment, I don't want to burden her with my education so I'm trying my best to apply to scholarships so they can help me a bit to pursue my education. Once I've finished college then I'll repay my mom back for everything she's done and hopefully make it out of the hood. I'll buy her a nice house and have her living comfortably without anything to worry about. I don't want her worrying about bills, rent, food, my siblings, and myself. I want her to only worry about how she's gonna spend all her free time and living her best life. I Love my mom, I want the best for her. I don't want to see her lift another finger to work, shes done enough. I hope she's able to live nice in the future and have herself a nice caring boyfriend. Once I've accomplished that, I'll start living and working on myself.

I'm a Hispanic Female, I graduated high school this year in June. I live with my mom and have 4 siblings, I do art and origami. I sometimes paint but not anymore. I like taking care of animals and my siblings, they all mean a lot to me. I want to pursue accounting and help my mom financially and help her do her own taxes so she won't have to pay anyone to file her taxes. I enjoy math, the way numbers and equations are intrigue me. I want to further my education and learn more about math, the way how people run small businesses, how one files taxes, how one can see how to improve saving money, and much more that goes with accounting. This scholarship will help me achieve my education goals by helping me financially and not having to be a burden to my mom. I really want to be an accountant and I am, I will be an accountant but I sort of need a little help. My mom doesn't have a job at the moment and I don't want to ask for any money for my college because obviously she needs it more to pay bills and the rent. It's hard for her to get a job since she's undocumented and no one really wants to hire her, she's had a couple jobs before but she's gotten fired. This scholarship isn't just for me, but for my mom. I want to make her proud and feel like she's made it in life that her kids are succeeding and that she's done enough for us. Where I'm from people don't expect much from us, they think we're all dumb, addicts, thieves, ghetto, and won't have a future, but I want to prove all of them wrong. We're from the south side of a city in New Jersey and even though yes there is violence, there are bad people here, and it's hard here sometimes, we still manage and get through whatever it is we're dealing with. We strive to do our best and not let the neighborhood make us fall. I want what's best for my family and for myself, I want my little brothers to have a good future and not have to go through what we had to go through in order to have a stable life. I hope maybe one day we can make it out of the hood.

I'm interested in becoming an accountant because I love math, the way numbers seem so easy to work with and I just want to pursue something that I love doing and it could help my parents out and my friends. Being an accountant is something I strive to be and I want to pursue it as much as I can. I've already applied and plan on going to college for it. I'm going to strive and do my best to get my associates degree and help my mom financially and help her file her taxes. I just need a bit of help financially before I can become a big time accountant, I just need a little push and then I can run. Ever since I was little myself and my siblings were always good at math, but I'm the only one who really wants to continue doing math and using it in the real world. I know I can make it and become an accountant because my love for school is something else. I really enjoy school and having something to do and keep me distracted. I genuinely love math and school and I really hope my efforts pay off in 2 years from now. I think accountant are very important to businesses and the broader public because accountants manage what's going in and going out, they help run businesses. Without accountants people would have difficulty knowing how to manage their business and they might crumble. In the world, without accountants managing businesses there wouldn't be any stores afloat, maybe some but they'll become big and they'll have more people coming to them and then they'll have more income coming in and it might get hard for them to do it on their own. Generally accountants are just needed, like a mechanic, a barber, etc. they're essential because everyone needs an accountant or at least small and big businesses do and those who need their taxes filed. I think not many people value accountants like they should do, I'm not sure if there are many in the world but I think there should be because not everyone knows how to file taxes or manage businesses. Thank you though, for noticing those who want to pursue accounting and want to give it their all. I hope I'm able to do the same when I get older and become stable. I really appreciate it and appreciate you. Thank you

I've had an idea challenged before, when I was younger I saw how my older brother was able to draw so well and I'd think to myself that I couldn't reach that level and I wasn't good enough. I've always thought that I couldn't improve because each time I thought I'd gotten better I saw that my older brother was on a whole different level. I genuinely thought that I just wouldn't be able to be better in any way. The idea of me being good enough was challenged because I kept seeing people who were far better than me and I didn't think I was capable of doing what they do. After years of practice, I've gotten better at what I do and my mentality has changed a lot. I don't devalue others for my sake, I see them as an inspiration and it gets me to strive to become a better version of myself. I admire my older brother's artwork because I know he has practiced as hard as I have to get to the point where he is now. I know I'm good enough and I know I can do better, as well as others can too. I know that as I'm improving myself, others are too and that's why it seems as though I can't reach their level, but I know I've reached the level they surpassed and if they can surpass it then I'm sure I can too. I love to draw, I love the emotions behind it and even with no emotions in it, it's still so nice to look at. To know that someone put their time and effort into something is mesmerizing, to think they also might've gone through the same thought process as I did is sort of relieving. When an idea is challenged It's best to think outside of your box and think of others and how they might feel not just how you feel. When I think of others, I realize that I may be a tad bit selfish, but I learn from it. I don't let it eat away at me and destroy my mentality, rather I let it help me grow as a person because I know I wouldn't want myself to be stuck in a loop where everything I do is wrong or something someone does to improve themselves is wrong because it doesn't fit in my book. I want to be open and accepting of the facts that may not sit right with me, but it's just how the world is. Things don't always go your way, and it's okay.