"What are you going to do after you graduate?" is something I rarely heard from my mom, a single parent of five children. Although there were teachers that were deeply committed to attempting to support me as much as possible despite my circumstances, I felt that I didn't have the support from the adult that mattered the most to me when I needed it. Because of this, I as a student parent now am making changes to impact me in the present but also impact my daughter's future, asking her "What are you going to do after you graduate?". This sets up support for her to plan and to imagine what is possible now just because she was asked a simple question by her most influential adult, her mom. The absence of this question has encouraged me to become deeply committed to making a difference in my own community. Not only am I making changes at home for my daughter, but I am pursuing a career in public service to make changes for others around me who have untapped potential. Opening the dialogue for questions like this allows for us to imagine and then work towards a future free of generational poverty and filled with aspirations being met. The absence of this question for myself meant that I had to navigate my own ambitions based around the needs of my own family first, and not of dreams that I wanted. This left me feeling as if my aspirations were secondary compared to helping rear my siblings as the eldest child and only girl. Because of this lack of focus, I never imagined myself to go beyond what was needed of me until my brothers finally graduated high school and college. Once they were in college and my daughter in elementary school, I found an passion of fire in my chest pushing me to search for how I can provide not only a better life for myself and my family, but a future for others around me. While going to school and completing work-study internships, I had found that working with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusive initiatives made me feel as if this is where I belonged. I began volunteering locally within my community in gardens, talking with others and providing resources, and even being a listener to others. By participating in these volunteer programs, I was able to ask such valuable questions from those around me, asking what the younger students want to do and guiding current college students on campus. This first hand experience has allowed me to continue finding the strength to go to school, work, be a friend, a classmate, and a better mother as I work towards influencing as many people as possible just as I wish I had. Because of my childhood lacked the encouragement to dream freely, I am not instilled with the deep-seated resolve to empower others in a way that I was not able to have. I continue to pursue my undergraduate degree in Public Administration with a double minor in Non-Profit Management and Civic Engagement so that I may use my education and skills to help others in my community. This scholarship would be a pivotal step in my journey to honor Linda McCoy-Aitkens' legacy by dedicating my life to social justice in public service for these underserved communities where every child deserves the opportunity to dream and achieve their fullest potential.

I am a first-generation Non-Traditional college student with a personal commitment to transforming generational poverty within my community. The idea of pursuing higher education has always seemed out of reach from me as the eldest child in a large family living in poverty and as a student parent. Despite the odds, I am now currently working towards a Bachelor of Public Administration at The University of Texas at San Antonio, with a focus on nonprofit management and public service. I am also a member of the Non-Traditional Student Organization at UTSA. Growing up, I witnessed the struggles of financial instability as I watched my family struggle due to limited access to resources and support systems. I was responsible for raising my younger siblings, putting them above my own education and personal aspirations. In high school my mother became physically disabled, leaving me with two of my younger brothers and my grandma assisted in raising the younger two. I had my daughter after graduation in 2013 and continued to raise her alongside my siblings. After my brothers graduated from college with their associates degrees and my daughter attending primary school, I decided to leave the restaurant industry and pursue higher education. It was in 2023, that I received my degree in Business Administration. It took me 10 years and struggling through the digital nature of school during the COVID-19 Pandemic before I was finally able to earn a degree for myself. These experiences fueled my determination to seek an education that would enable me to make impact others in my similar situation. I found that I believe that education is the most powerful tool for change, and I am dedicated to using my knowledge and skills to help others achieve stability and empowerment. My career aspiration is to work in public service, focusing on initiatives that support families and children, especially those looking to pursue opportunities that will help their family. I want to help create environments where individuals can thrive, free from the constraints of poverty, teen parenthood, and a lack of educational opportunities just as I had to overcome. By working in public service and nonprofit sectors, I aim to provide the necessary resources and support to those who need it most, ensuring that they do not have to follow in the same steps as their predecessors. Due to having a career within public service and nonprofit work, I am aware that my career is most likely to not be financially lucrative. Although this may be the case, I am committed to this path because I believe in the importance of serving others and making a difference. Any financial assistance I receive through this scholarship will be a blessing, as it will allow me to focus on my education without the burden of overwhelming student loan debt once I graduate with my Bachelor's of Public Administration. The money saved will enable me to cover living essentials and invest more time and energy into my studies, community work, and raising my child to have the same educational work ethic. In conclusion, I am passionate about using my education and skills to break the cycle of poverty and empower families and children. I want other Non-Traditional Students such as myself to know it is possible to overcome adversity and find opportunities through education. This scholarship will provide me with the financial support needed to achieve my educational and career goals, allowing me to pay it forward by helping others in my community. I am grateful for your consideration and hopeful for the opportunity to contribute to a brighter future for all.

As a first-generation college student, I have initialized the change that is not only for my self transformation, but also aims to break the cycle of generational poverty that has been a significant part of my own family's history. Growing up, I watched firsthand the struggles that tied in with limited educational opportunities and what barriers are apparent that many times keep families trapped within a cycle of economic hardship. My personal mission is to become a catalyst for change both for my family and for my community, through advocating for education and empowerment. Currently, I have recently completed my Associates in Business Administration from San Antonio College and I am building from that. Now I am pursuing a Bachelors Degree in Public Administration and double minoring in Civic Engagement and Non Profit Management at the University of Texas at San Antonio. After, I plan to apply for the Masters of Public Administration to keep growing my educational career and implement skills learned to help my community. Education has always given me hope and an escape from the day to day troubles I faced growing up. I have found through research that learning in anyway possible is a great means for personal growth as well as empowerment for ourselves and others. I aspire to build a career in public service where I hope to stabilize and uplift families through access to education and resources. My personal goal is to inspire others to believe in their own potential and locate a path to pursue that will provide them with stability and empowerment. This will take away from other cycles in our community that include substance abuse, limited educational attainment, and teen parenthood. My professional journey has given me self accomplishments and personal goals I have reached that are tied in with meaningful experiences that have molded my commitment to community service. As the Director of Volunteer Coordination at RaicesCyber Org, a nonprofit dedicated to cybersecurity education, I have honed my skills in managing volunteer programs, fostering community engagement, and promoting educational opportunities. This role has allowed me to assist in creating pathways to stable, rewarding careers in a growing field. Additionally, my roles at San Antonio College and Royal Public Schools have shown me the impact that effective educational programming and student recruitment can have on individuals and communities. At San Antonio College, I assisted directors in developing initiatives aimed at fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion, while at Royal Public Schools, I engaged directly with students and families to promote educational opportunities. These experiences have reinforced my belief in the power of education as a transformative tool. I also feel self empowered through my participation in professional development programs that have expanded my leadership and civic engagement skills. The Adelante Leadership Program has equipped me with the tools to confidently lead and advocate effectively, while the Solyia Global Program for Civic Engagement has broadened my perspective on the importance of cross-cultural dialogue. These experiences assisted in not only enhancing my professional capabilities but have continued to fueled my passion for serving my community. In my future, I understand that a career in public service and the nonprofit sector may not be financially lucrative. Regardless, I am deeply committed to this path due to the impact this will have on individuals and communities. Financial assistance from this scholarship will be a blessing, allowing me to focus on academics rather than the consistent burned of student loans. This allows me to continue my studies and advance my career, which will enable me to dedicate myself to creating a more equitable and empowered community.

I have actively participated in my community through volunteering with diversity groups, assisting with planning events, and providing help for school based clubs in need. I have a dedication to help those around me to pursue their personal goals. By volunteering with diversity groups, I have not only promoted inclusivity but searched to create a space where everyone feels valued, acknowledged and heard. This has helped create a sense of belonging as well as a stronger community. With diversity work, I was also included in leadership roles needed to plan events. Planning events has showed me how to take on a leadership role when needed in order to create memorable experiences through bringing people together. Networking with students and providing them with assistance, resources, or new opportunities in order to make an impact on those that need it has built deep relationships within the community around me. Students will impact the next generation, so providing others with new experiences will allow them to learn and share this throughout their own personal careers. Creating small impacts like this allows for others to continue thriving outwards, inspiring newer people to share their experience and kindness to those around them. Showing one act of kindness and guidance has allowed me to impact the trajectory of others for the better. Supporting clubs in need has allowed these groups to reach their goals and follow through with their mission statements in order to impact their members. While fundraising, networking, and even providing guidance for how the club should take the next steps to create thriving groups. From organizing fundraisers, social gatherings, or workshops, I have done so much in the name to assist with creating a thriving community and hope to continue doing so by remaining engaged on campus as well as being civically engaged in my local home community I will continue to do so in order to create future generations looking to become empowered through education and kindness within their communities. Most importantly I have been opened and shared personal information of my past regarding the challenges I have had to overcome in order to be where I am at today. This has allowed me to help other women feel seen, heard, and not alone. Standing in solidarity together and feeling as if they are not alone in their own personal struggle provides a level of support that many may not be aware of. I also provide resources to others based on what their needs or interests are. Every person I meet I would love to make a lasting impact on them so that they may find their own version of success and happiness. My career aspiration is to help children and families become as healthy as possible in order to thrive in their community. I hope to become a policy maker that influences social work so that many children that need help receive it and will not fall through the cracks. I also am inspired to help social workers with additional resources in order to maintain their career as well as their passion to help children and families. One day I hope to make such an impact so that many families will be empowered through education and continue to have children that are able to thrive both mentally, emotionally, and socially.

My name is Miranda and I am a full-time student, a full-time parent, and a full-time volunteer. After finding myself unable to continue moving forward in my career field, I decided to return to school and provide myself as well as my daughter a better opportunity with better wages. I completed my Associate's degree in Business Administration at San Antonio College and completed a work study which broadened my horizons to new opportunities. After completing work-study at San Antonio College, I fell in love with diversity work as well as giving back to my community. I worked doing administrative work but also was provided with opportunities to take leadership roles that involved my local community. Being able to help with events, volunteer with non-profits, and even coordinate left me feeling as if I was ready to take the next step and become the leader that I needed growing up. I hope to help empower others around me to seek change, get help, and take opportunity in their own hands for better personal development as well as economic growth. I am currently going to the University of Texas at San Antonio to earn a bachelor's degree in Public Administration as well as a double minor in Civic Engagement and Nonprofit Management. My goal is to one day be able to give back to my community and provide others with many more opportunities especially because our neighborhoods are at an economic disadvantage. I hope to find work in the corporate social responsibility sector to be able to reach the gap between corporations that reside in my community, and those in need of job training, higher wages, and even empowerment and education to escape economic hardship. Being in Business Administration and pursuing a Public Administration degree provides me with more insight on how to help those around me but also how to work in different types of administration as well. I look forward to a future working in administration where I have the power to impact those around me as well as the department I am in. I will continue to be committed to furthering my education and working towards a master's as well as a doctoral degree. I wish to use my skills and commit to making a long-lasting impact on my fellow community members so that they may also find personal success through working in administrative departments that serve our community.

I am a nontraditional student parent that is also a first generation college student. With many of these identifiers, I find myself fighting against obstacles every day. I have overcome generations of abuse, poverty, and teen parenthood. Each of these circumstances has taught me more about the world, and how I hope to impact it. I carry these experiences and this weight with me, hoping to empower myself with education, and provide myself with better opportunities as well as stability for my daughter. As I grow and learn every day, I always attempt to be the person that I needed when I was younger and to be the role model that my daughter needs now, even if that means taking accountability for the poor choices that I have made. Every day is a fight, but I know that in the end it will be worth it. My short term goal is to continue to grow my work experience through internships and be more hands-on with my community. One day I want to help prevent other women and young girls from finding themselves in similar situations such as my own. I hope to do this through education and training. Should someone find themselves in my same shoes, I will have the experience and be strong enough to guide them in the right directions. I feel it in my heart how others may not have the same drive as I do, and how they may feel defeated on a regular basis, but I want them to know as a woman they are capable of so much more than what they give themselves credit for. This scholarship would allow me to focus on my classes as well as internship opportunities, including outside volunteer opportunities that will provide me the experience that I need with working with my community. If my tuition is covered, then money would not be an extreme issue for me. If I could work for free doing what I love through civic engagement opportunities, I would. My empathetic heart feels for other women around me that are also facing circumstances such as my own. This is why I have made it my personal mission to continue educating myself on how I can best build public policies to help women and young girls in my community. I wish to create a pipeline of dreams by impacting each person I work with to feel empowered to make the changes that they need in their lives. We are all a part of a community, so together we rise, or we all fall. I hope hand-in-hand we can stand together and create future generations of strong and empowered woman to lead our communities for the better.

My name is Miranda and I am a nontraditional student returning to school. I am a full-time student, a full-time parent, and a full-time volunteer. I recently received my associate's degree in business administration, as well as have completed several years of business administration work. After finding myself unable to continue moving forward in my career field, I decided to return to school and provide myself as well as my daughter a better opportunity with better wages. I have found that it is my goal to broaden my horizons and continue to expand my knowledge in the field of administration in both private and public sectors. After completing work-study at San Antonio College, I fell in love with diversity work as well as giving back to my community. I worked doing administrative work but also was provided with opportunities to take leadership roles that involved my local community. Being able to help with events, volunteer with non-profits, and even coordinate left me feeling as if I was ready to take the next step and become the leader that I needed growing up. I hope to help empower others around me to seek change, get help, and take opportunity in their own hands for better personal development as well as economic growth. I am currently going to the University of Texas at San Antonio to earn a bachelor's degree in Public Administration as well as a double minor in Civic Engagement and Nonprofit Management. My goal is to one day be able to give back to my community and provide others with many more opportunities especially because our neighborhoods are at an economic disadvantage. I hope to find work in the corporate social responsibility sector to be able to reach the gap between corporations that reside in my community, and those in need of job training, higher wages, and even empowerment and education to escape economic hardship. Being in Business Administration and pursuing a Public Administration degree provides me with more insight on how to help those around me but also how to work in different types of administration as well. I look forward to a future working in administration where I have the power to impact those around me as well as the department I am in. I will continue to be committed to furthering my education and working towards a master's as well as a doctoral degree. I wish to use my skills and commit to making a long-lasting impact on my fellow community members so that they may also find personal success through working in administrative departments that serve our community.

My worldview has changed with education as it has allowed me to heal personally from the abuse and trauma that I have endured as a child. Growing up, not only was I able to escape my hardships through books and maintaining higher grades, but I was also able to find understanding in the reactions to my actions and those around me. My natural curiosity has allowed me to educate myself in human behavior and become a more empathetic person. There is a reason as to why people do what they do, and it’s easier to understand this behavior which allowed me to stop forever wondering why things happened. Through sociology and psychology, I can understand what reactive behaviors are and how to help with a better outcome or at least let them know that I understand. Because I have been searching for higher education, I have become a less hateful person and have learned to forgive since everything is an effect of a cause. Learning that people are made of their environment most of the time guided me to pursue higher education because I didn’t want my causes to determine my future. My view on education has changed from being only mental growth based, but to also providing me with the opportunity to reach new personal goals. I come as an adult to pursue higher education and change the outcome of my future and my next generation's future. Abuse and poverty tend to be cycles in families that many have a hard time getting out of, and because I have chosen to be better educated, I have chosen to change this cycle. Education has caused me to change my worldview and know that although many of us face adversity, we still have an opportunity to change our future. With education my worldview has changed in a more intimate way than most students have. I have attained personal and emotional growth as a person to heal and move on to what I can change in front of me. I will continue to evolve as a person, and maybe later my world view will change again as I pursue more education. Overall, I do see that education ended up being the key to my success, personally, emotionally, and when I graduate, professionally. Being able to acknowledge this and know that education can mold my world view will give me power of choosing my future.

Keeping a growth mindset means being open to new thoughts of all kinds. There came a time in my life whereas I understood what it meant to be a lifelong learner and accepting that I need this to continue pursuing personal growth. Maintaining a growth mindset to me would allow me to ensure that I will continue to accept new information and changes in the world around me. Being open to a growth mindset allows me to form new opinions as well as ensure that I can become my best self. I keep this mindset to ensure that I will continue to pursue my best self through self growth. Personally I participate in volunteer opportunities to network with people from different walks of life. Attending conferences or guest speaking sessions allows me to receive information from a different perspective and provide mental or emotional growth. I also am able to maintain a growth mindset by encouraging myself to be better than the person I was yesterday.

I come from an impoverished background and have made it my goal to change the generational poverty my family has continued to live through. My mother was in a domestically violent relationship, and my father was an alcoholic obsessed with being a musician. They continued to have children that they could not afford. Growing up, I do see that I have creative tendencies, but after watching my family go without food, I refused to be in the same shoes my father put our family in. I decided to go to school for business administration, since I had in recent years become a contractor for office jobs. Now that I have found my niche where I can find a decent salary, security, and benefits, I am looking to educate myself to the highest extent possible and ensure that I break the chains of poverty. My interest in this field stems from being organized and having security in the office. There have been times where my jobs have been so far behind on work and close to detrimental consequences, until I was able to come in to get things back on track and provide work security for my office. I found that with hard work, determination, and skilled moves, I can find great solutions for any problem that I come across in an office, ranging from organizing to setting up new systems in order to make everything run smoothly. Many of the books I enjoy reading are consider “self-help” books. Self-improvement should be a goal everyone has and reading these books can help us solve problems within ourselves which will then allow us to solve problems around ourselves. A personal lesson I learned from reading is how to heal myself from my childhood years to become a better well-rounded adult. I strive every day to ensure my inner child is healed and becomes a healthier person that does not act based on emotions. My goals have stemmed from my family history, as I wish to become a part of a better generation as well as provide more for my community. This will ensure that I am at my best and most professional self as I continue to navigate through school and achieve goals my previous generations were unable to reach. I hope to inspire others to work hard and pursue a better opportunity than what we were given as children, and bring hope that every person has the power to change their future and heal from their past.

Patience is a virtue. Many people tend to overlook how patience can accommodate their lives better. At this time in our society, many of us can highly benefit from being patient as it can heal people mentally or emotionally. Anxiety ties into mental and emotional health, but being patient can attribute to better maintaining and controlling our health. Aside from personal health, we are able to better maintain our relationships with others that we care about. Feelings can be overwhelming between both parts of a relationship, but how we handle them is what will matter the most in the end. Preserving our relationships with others is done with patience and how we think about reacting through decision making. Patience enables us to analyze situations beyond the surface and find the best solution. Being patient is also great for using in everyday situations or some tougher problems that we may go through. Through patience, I am able to practice self control, remain calm, and even replicator's empathetic behavior to ensure I am aware of all sides of the situation. These values that patience has provided to better enhance my behaviors and actions to ensure better outcomes for myself and everyone involved, which is why being patient is highly important to me.

A simple compliment can make someone's day. One thing I've noticed is that everyone can see the bleakness leaking out of a person not having a good day. At work and at school, I have promised myself to make a minimum of one person smile per day. We don't know what many people are going through, so just a simple comment can enlighten a few seconds of their day. Spreading kindness is what is needed, complimenting their outfit, hair, smile, eyes, and just the features that make a person who they are can provide a moment of love and compassion that they could be missing. Positive impacts can be large and affect many at once, but teaching people small scale as a society can help mold and change the surrounding community as a whole. A simple compliment to spread kindness will show the world how that creating a positive environment can be easy and is natural for us, so that we may all be a bit happier and kinder.

My dream life is based on encouraging my child to pursue higher education for better economic status. I am a second generation of poverty in my family, and finding ways to climb out of it has been hard. My mother was not well off but ended in a worse situation due to my biological father. After experiencing years of abuse from family members, I have decided to change and climb out of this pit of desperation and hopelessness by pursuing a higher education. My dream life includes my child living comfortably while being able to pursue higher education. I want to encourage my family and my community to follow their dreams and chase after more than what they started with. My dream life isn't filled with materialistic items, but just the means to allow me to help anyone I can impact and invest time to show how we as a community can uplift one another. One day, my dream will come true, and I will be able to volunteer so much more than now. I will be able to donate to so many more causes to help my community. Finally, my dream will allow me to spread the hope I had and needed to get myself out of a cycle of socio-economic despair, so that others may find their way to better as well.

Generosity means to not be the only person that is happy. Today most millionaires thrive on tax loopholes and horde wealth from the other 98% of the population this has been slowly slipping into poverty. Their actions show a lack of generosity when they lack on doing their part as a citizen and a member of society. We find generosity in our local communities, when people participate in food banks or even when others provide school children with supplies they need. Of course it wasn't something that had to be done, but it is something that needed to be done in order to have a cycling society that can thrive by helping one another. Being generous may not help yourself, but it is done with the thought of others in mind. Generosity can also mean giving when you have extra, or even sharing when you don't have much yourself. We do so because it is in our genes to react by giving since humans are one of the few animals that show generosity to others of their kind that need it, even if it doesn't benefit them. The lack of generosity can only create a stagnant community, and will socially take a toll even on the person not giving. We can combat this by looking for others who need our best selves and provide them with whatever help we can, whether it be food, clothes, or supplies, helping our neighbors will only help ourselves thrive as people.

Throughout my life, I have endured multiple types of abuse, ranging from emotional, physically, and even sexually. Toward my young adult years, I started to unwind and become unavailable mentally and emotionally. My daughter was born a month after I walked the graduation stage; the pregnancy encouraged me to graduate even more. My resilience stems from my daughter, who has become an inspiration to me in combatting generational abuse. As a child, I was neglected by my parents, whom would not supervise me and had become addicted to work and or partying. This is where most of my sexual abuse stemmed from, with unsupervised teenagers left alone with a toddler girl. My biological dad wanted twelve children, but didn't want to work a job, and instead focused on being a musician. My mother dropped out of college, one class shy away from receiving a degree as a mortician and providing a better life for her children. While both had half dreams they left unfulfilled, never was there a concern for the well being of their children. During my years in grade school, I began to become confused due to the overwhelming PTSD I was unknowingly experiencing. I was in honor band and an A student, but gradually I turned to spend time with a different crowd that wasn't concerned with grades. I was stuck between my emotions, yet still wanting to participate as a role model student. During this period, my abusers spent more time with my family, so I found an escape through a boyfriend that had more malicious intentions. He had his own vehicle and had promises to take me away from a shack that my family had called "home". The rundown house had two bedrooms, with one person in a bedroom, and the other seven of us split between the other bedroom and living room. I was wrapped around the dream I would leave, and so no matter how hard my boyfriend hit me, I was happy to trade one abuse for the other. As time wore on, I became suicidal and depressed. Finally breaking up with my boyfriend caused him to sexually assault me. This broke me down and forced me to spiral further. It wasn't until I moved into the city that I decided not to go through with suicide. Being in the city felt like a fresh start, and I was looking forward to moving on. I participated in activities in school, and enjoyed it. I met my daughters dad in junior year. We were expecting our senior year. As a new adult, I looked forward to accepting my responsibilities and working twice as hard in honor of my daughter. My daughter's father became abuse after seven years. I left looking for stability and a safe start for my child. We both attended counseling together, as well as thriving on knowledge from the library while needing to ride the bus. Today I have instilled the search for knowledge into my child. She was my reason to escape my abuse, and become more resilient, in order to thrive. In counseling and therapy, I have learned to put my foot down to the generational abuse my family put me through, and stopped it with me. Every action I take is to become a better and safer role model for my child. With her coming into my life, I was able to escape and overcome abuse, as well as provide for her on my own. I will continue to help her achieve her own dreams for both of our futures sake.