While working in logistics, I had a client who came to me for their supply lanes back and forth from Houston to the oilfields of southwest Texas. We had a good thing going, and most weeks my drivers' performance was flawless (I was a broker and would have to handpick carriers based on a delicate mix of their quality and price). Once a driver gets to the oilfield, they have no cell phone signal and thus no GPS tracking active as well. Our pickups happened on the weekend as well, which didn't help with regards to support infrastructure in the region. Long story short, one of our five drivers was beckoned in by a company man on the oilfields who worked for a completely different company, and instead of an empty $30,000 oil tanker trailer, he ended up taking an oversized, overweight oil pump from my client's business partner's lot. This oil pump costs $2,500,000, and it is so heavy that on the way back to Houston, one of the driver's tires blew out and he had to continue to drop it off. No one was the wiser as the driver didn't check in with my team after he left the oilfield, and in a freak accident the $2,500,000 oil pump was left on my client's lot. My client's operations manager called me Monday morning and I could hear the shock in his voice when he walked out onto his lot and saw his business partner's oil pump 300 miles east of where it was supposed to be. In order to save a three-pronged business partnership, my team and I- everyone from legal, to insurance, to accounting, to operations, to customer support- had to maneuver the return trip of this oil pump to its rightful place, all the while knowing our company insurance only covered 10% of the price of the oil pump itself. The area around my desk at the office looked like an Apollo moon landing mission. I was in constant communication with all of the proper avenues in order to maintain efficient damage control and a safe trip. We pulled some strings and secured a police escort at just the right time at night so that there would be less traffic and a lower likelihood of an accident happening without full insurance coverage. It was a mission that sprung from a mistake, and a leadership role I was thrown into without expectation. I had been new to the sales floor at the company and this was a true trial by fire that panned out just right, showing that teamwork and communication can make it happen when the odds are stacked incredulously against us. I'm currently in law school, and plan to apply these problem-solving skills that I've accrued from both school and work experience to create a better and more fair/just community and future for us all. I would love to lead my own firm, or have a senior role at an already existing firm in which I can emphasize humanity-first servant leadership. It has been a staple of my personality anywhere I go; I love to take the risk on my shoulders for the sake of a potential team-wide gain. Thank you for an opportunity to speak about and reminisce upon a landmark leadership-oriented event in my life story. I remember it vividly and fondly, though the stress was shoulders-high at the time.

While many choose to pursue a doctorate in law for monetary reasons, I want to be an advocate for those that need it using my law degree. Whether they're wronged by a corporation or wrongfully convicted, every American deserves to have their voice heard with proper legal representation. My family came to the U.S. pursuing the American dream, and we are a living embodiment of it. My father comes from a village, and his parents raised 11 children on the equivalent of a $25,000 salary given to my grandfather by the church as its preacher. They grew their own food and had some livestock and fed and clothed their children with the little they made from the village farm. My father brought us here in pursuit of more, and now I'm in law school whilst my two brothers are in medical and dental school. Every dollar helps with regards to scholarship funding, as I'm the sole breadwinner for myself, my pregnant fiancé, and her youngest brother whom we have guardianship of, as my fiancé and her siblings are orphaned. With the law degree I'm working on, I could create a new life for us while advocating for people who are in some of the situations we used to find ourselves in.

I'm currently in law school so that I can further help the marginalized and underserved. I work full-time to support my fiancé, myself, and her youngest brother (who is still in high school and is under our guardianship) as our sole breadwinner. Attorneys have an elevated level of ability to advocate for those within and outside of their communities. I would love to use my degree to help the underserved who may be wrongfully convicted or need legal help navigating the world of immigration. As a refugee from the Middle East, I know how much of a difference an advocate can make in one's life. I am blessed to be in the U.S. and to have the opportunity to go to law school, but I have student debt and living expenses that a scholarship would help with immensely. I work for the sake of my household; my fiancé and her brother have been orphans ever since she was 16, and over the last 12 years she has been an amazing older sister to her siblings, taking on the role of a sibling and a mother. She moved with me so that we could continue our life together and pursue law school and I promised her that she wouldn't regret leaving her job and the rest of her family behind to be here with me. This scholarship would help me make full on that promise. Working while being a college student has been very difficult. There are classes I hover around a 3.0 in that I know I could get near a 4.0 in if I didn't have to work, and even then it's hard to 3.0 them. I was a top student in high school and undergrad, but with classes as rigorous as those I'm experiencing in law school it'd be impossible to maintain a 4.0 even as a part-time student with a full-time work schedule. Every scholarship dollar I get will allow me to spend more time studying and allow me to pay off more of my student loans so that I won't be encumbered with the interest that they come with. Thank you kindly for the opportunity to apply for this scholarship. As I said, I view myself as highly blessed for even being in this position, and will spread the word about it to all of my friends in need. May the most deserving one of us win out.

I want to build a law firm. I have the marquee traits of a leader in the legal field and I cannot look forward to a life of working under someone else when I feel in my heart of hearts that I should be the one making the decisions and leading the charge. I'm currently in law school, but when I'm done I will work for a firm and/or local counties until I can build up my own clientele. After I pay off my student loans (hopefully with the help of scholarships like this one) I will set up a law firm in which my fiancé will be a 51% owner and the head of the administrative side of the office. She will apply for woman-owned business grants while I apply for minority business grants as we are both from marginalized communities. I will look to hire lawyers and paralegals that view every single client as a person and not a number. I will do my absolute best to be jurisprudent and efficient, in order to not over-bill clients during some of the most stressful times in their lives. If that means that the firm makes less money out of it, that is fine by me so long as I feel like we are genuinely helping the people of our community. As important as building is, I am confident that when building anything, one has to think about the people. In a world of A.I. (which I've begrudgingly come to grasp) and layoffs and efficiency metrics, we have to understand first and foremost the effects of what we build on those around us. Will it be positive or negative, and in what ways? If that is not one's first question, I highly question the motives and the aspirations that they have for whatever they may be building. I hope that you consider my dream and the law firm that I hope to build as worthy of your scholarship, and thank you kindly for your time.

The court system is daunting and scary for anybody facing it. I know this firsthand, as I have sat in a jail cell for a crime I did not commit. I had been attacked and, due to my race, I was the one that was brought to jail instead of the person I was rightfully defending myself against. Throughout that time, I tried to keep my head held high as I went through my worst nightmare, a potential 6-8 year sentence for a crime I genuinely did not commit. The attorney I worked with during the 3 months that I was fighting the charges was sharp and to the point. He was a detail-oriented savage and would give me the "tough love" I needed to get my head on straight when I was about ready to give up on my truths. During my undergrad studies, before the part of my journey mentioned above, I was a student in and then a T.A. of a class in which we would visit the incarcerated in our local county 1-2 times per week, and we would joke around, play cards with, and update them on the goings-on of the world outside. The striking and glaring issue was that many of those charged with felonies were at the wrong place, at the wrong time, and usually with the wrong crowd. Many of my classmates who were from the suburbs had their first experience of "humanizing" a convict (or alleged convict) during that time. After that class, I spent a summer interning with the Ann Arbor Public Defender in a highly touted program. It's known as the best criminal defense internship in the state of Michigan. The lawyer I was working under, who had a compassionate and understanding lawyering style, quickly realized that I was finishing our defendant intake interviews at a much quicker pace than the other interns. She began sending me exclusively to the jail on the days that we did interviews, and my classmates were baffled at how I was able to get the full story out of our defendants in my first sitting with them, and a short sitting at that. Quite frankly, it's about humanizing the person in front of you and using the correct context clues and tonality in order to show them that you're on the same team fighting the same fight. Over time, I began including life advice when I would speak to the defendants, and did my best to use my Psychology degree to get them to see their own responsibilities as well as their rights in their respective situation. Seeing grown men break down crying in front of you, many times for the first time in years, in between four concrete walls changes you. It certainly changed me. Through all of these experiences, I decided to fight the good fight and commit to going to law school. I explained my story of having been wrongfully incarcerated in my application essays, labored and cried after sending honors-level transcripts, thinking "what if they don't believe me? What if they don't understand me?" Thankfully, the University of Toledo gave me the chance to turn all of my experiences and the turmoil within my story into something positive. I'm now in my 1L year of law school and my fiancé and I are beginning to build a beautiful life for ourselves. The only thing that weighs on me is my $11,000 in student loans and my cost of living, as it is difficult to maintain work during law school. This scholarship would thus be a massive blessing to us.

Hello and good day. My name is Nabil Marcus Muallem, and I am a Christian who was born in Nazareth. The name "Nabi" in my native language actually means "prophet," and coincidentally enough, at times my name is misspelled or mispronounced as "Nabi" instead of "Nabil" (which means Noble). When this happens, I explain the difference to whoever I'm speaking with and tell them that I can be their second favorite Nazarene as long as Jesus is their first. My family traces our roots back to the very first followers of Jesus, and as refugees of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we feel personally close to the story of a pregnant Mary and Joseph looking for a place to stay during their arduous journey. I often tell my friends that the devil works hard, but my teita (grandmother) back in Nazareth prays harder. With that said, and so much more that can't be described in just 400-600 words, faith is everything to me. My faith in my savior and creator has pushed me, as the oldest child of immigrant refugees, to help lead my family through the levels of trials and tribulations that have added to our strengths and human experience. When I feel lost in the maze of life with no way out, I look to Him and He guides me to my next destination. When we came to the U.S. in 2001, I was 6 years old. I was faced with anti-Arab racism day in and day out, when all I was trying to do was befriend and support those around me. My family and friends have always known me as someone with a big heart, but it was difficult to fight hate as a child who was so focused on love. Year after year, with my family moving around so that my father could chase gainful employment and education, the first thing my new classmates would see about me was my Arab race, and while these days everybody loves hummus and shawarma, sadly it was not the case during my upbringing. I would turn to the best example of the unrighteously persecuted whomst I was raised on by my parents and grandparents- Christ. With tears in my eyes and feeling like I had thorns pressing into my skull, I braved every school day with the armor of God and did my best to push forward while the arrows of hate flew my way. This feeling of being "left out" led me to volunteer through my church in middle and high school in order to help the marginalized. In college I majored in Psychology, receiving my Bachelor's from the University of Michigan whilst volunteering at the local alternative school, mentoring underserved youth; when it was time for me to graduate and finish my volunteering journey there my mentees cried and didn't want to let me go. I share Nabi's love for volunteering and counseling the adults and the children of her community. Finally, I will close this essay out by mentioning that I am currently in law school. With my J.D., I hope to continue serving the underserved, as I see the glisten in their eyes that I remember seeing in the eyes of my own family when we moved to this country. If I am granted this scholarship, it will help me immensely towards school loans and living expenses, and whether or not I'm blessed with this opportunity, I will be sure to tell my friends and family of Nabi Nicole, as I believe her name deserves to live on in a world like ours.

I am a Palestinian-American who immigrated with my parents at 6 years old. My family has deep roots to Palestine and my father made the tough decision to move us to the U.S. so that we would have more opportunities, instead of being second-class citizens under the occupational regime. I am now in law school at the University of Toledo after having finished my Bachelor's at the University of Michigan, and I would love to use my education and life experiences in order to advance the civil and land rights of my people. Being a Palestinian-American has shaped the entirety of my beliefs and career aspirations. I want to be a shining light, an inspiration, and an advocate for every Palestinian child and young adult that feels like freedom is too far to grasp. I have met many Algerians in my life, and they have always been welcoming. When they meet me and find out that I am Palestinian, they tell me (in Arabic) that my people are "in their eyes and in their heart," and the feeling is mutual. The feeling of "watan" is strong among those of us who cherish and love our culture(s). The major historic or current events that I know about Palestine specifically are too much to explain in a 400-600 word essay after having both learned and experienced said events first-hand. I point the reader to the beautiful music of Marcel Khalife, who wrote the song "The Boy and the Plane" (Al Tuful W Al-Tayarra) that my father sang to me as a lullaby. In this song, the double-entendre of the word "tayarra" (meaning both kite and airplane) is used to describe a child's last story. The child sees a "kite"/plane (tayarra) in the sky that doesn't need a string to fly, and it's huge with metal wings. The story goes on to mention that the tayarra in this scenario isn't one of his beloved kites, it was instead a war plane that flew over his head as he was playing in his neighborhood courtyard and decimated his village, leaving his soul to fly back to where it came from. I have heard many stories like this one, including Elias Chacour's book "Blood Brothers," in which he talks about his experience with the occupation militia. They told his family to go to the desert in order to "secure the area" and ended up leveling the entire village with bombers on the day his family was supposed to return to their homes. I don't think that any human being deserves to be treated this way, let alone for something they can't control; where they were born and the race they are. I hope to do everything in my power to bring awareness and change to the struggles of my people. Thank you kindly for your time.