All my life, I've been waiting for the season in life when I would blossom into who I dreamed of being. I was the awkward kid growing up; I always had my nose in a book, and I was chubby and deemed ugly by my classmates. Every day in my world of books, I read about women who succeeded at trampling over their enemies. My favourite book series growing up was called Whatever After. The main character, Abigail, used a magic mirror to transport herself into classic fairy tales, helping the princesses rewrite their endings in new ways. I loved this little girl-power version of Super Why because I loved the idea of rewriting your story. Now, when I was young, rewriting my story looked like becoming the next Zendaya. But as I got older, I looked towards educational opportunities to do so. I went to a high school where not just your grades mattered, but where you came from. They lifted kids who were miracle stories or who came from affluent/influential families in my local community. As a kid in the middle, where I had decent grades and background, it felt like I was fighting for every chance I got to prove my worth. Then, at one of my non-profit youth organizations I applied twice for their "star student" scholarship opportunity, and I lost it both times. Even though I had proven over years of membership that I was worth giving the chance. So when you ask what gives me an advantage is because I've never had one yet. Still, as a college student, I keep my head down, work hard, and channel that underdog grit directly into action. I'm already planning campus-wide events as a student ambassador, like an interdisciplinary panel to discuss the American Incarceration System to teach my classmates. Teaching them that the system is not the moral code they believe it to be. That it was designed to exploit, and the government crafted lifestyle scenarios that made it easy for people to be exploited. I have my legal plan ready; I plan to start next spring by filing for a fee waiver for the LSAT to help with the fees and LSAT prep courses. I also have a summer internship plan of interning at my local courts, prosecutors' offices and law firms to research which law I would like to practice. After meeting my mentor, I'm strongly considering prosecuting domestic violence cases. Being the underdog is my advantage because everyone limits me to the mediocre person that I am not. Just because my classroom abilities and socioeconomic background give me one profile, my ambition and drive give me a different one that the world has often neglected to look at. I want to become an attorney, not because I just want to be successful on a surface level, but to show that little girl who dreams of rewriting her story and the teenager who feels overlooked that their moment and opportunity will come. When it does, she will succeed because she's ready; everyone else around her learns on the fly and by trial and error. She doesn't take any time or place for granted because she knows what it takes to fight for her shot. This scholarship would alleviate the financial pressures of worrying about anything else besides keeping my eye on my goal of passing the bar after 3 years of law school. Right now, as an undergrad who lives at home, those pressures look like the cost of attendance rising by $200-300 every year, but the current administration is limiting federal and state financial aid. That looks like paying for books to take these intense preparatory legal courses for law school—I pay for "law books" right now as a pre-law student that cost twice as much as normal undergraduate courses. That looks like paying to take care of myself as far as clothes, toiletries, and looking out for my parents and sisters if need be. Like paying for groceries since everything is expensive or giving my sisters snacks for after-school activities and field trips. The cost of education isn't just going up on campuses, but for students like me who are trying to find the most cost-effective way to get an education; however, it's still tight. This scholarship would take those worries away just for a semester, but one semester gets me closer to graduation. Graduation gets me closer to law school, and law school gets me closer to the new version of my story. Rewriting my story is my goal in life; it's the foundation I want to build my career upon, tell my future kids about, and use to inspire others. Seeing my mentor in court one day confirmed it for me: I see myself in that version of the lawyer story, and I am ready to write it.

As a kid who grew up involved in non-profit organisations like the Boys and Girls Club and YMCA-affiliated programs, I understand how these programs can open up doors for young people to aspire beyond their circumstances. I also know how these programs impacted my own professional development. In the Detroit chapter of BGCA, I learned the value of community and supporting it. During the pandemic, my local club was my home away from home. From 7:30 am until about 6:30 pm, the staff and my friends became my new family. As I got older, all of these organisations helped me to develop professional soft skills and networks that still benefit me to this day as a college student. Even though now I am an alumna of multiple non-profit programs, I always knew I wanted to come back or start my own non-profits to help my community. My first non-profit idea was to have a healthy social communication Motivational speaking series created for tweens, teens and college students. I would go into non-profits like the ones I was raised in to talk to young people about the importance of healthy communication in all aspects of life. Being raised around my elders in this generation has shown me that a lot of us suffer from a lack of knowledge on how to communicate. I don't want my generation to pass these faults on to the next, and I would certainly want the next generation to be better educated. Most of us young people complain about the dating pool, social groups, and job circumstances. All of which have a strong communication factor, if you learn how to communicate properly, then you can lessen some of the strife you may experience. My second idea, which is less youth-based, came to me this summer during my internship at the courthouse. Most well-known nonprofits in my field of study for law and politics are usually based on the criminal aspect of the law. Organizations like the ACLU and NAACP are the most popular non-profit-adjacent legal organisations. However, I want to be a contract attorney with a specialisation in negotiations and litigation. But, there are not a lot of civil non-profits like the NAACP or the ACLU. I knew I wanted to take advantage of that gap, I just didn't know the need to fulfil. I was in a general civil courtroom, and I was surprised at the number of people who chose to represent themselves. Not because I didn't believe people could represent themselves, but because I understand that the law is applied very specifically to each scenario. If you're not trained on it, then it's very hard to understand it. I found out on this day that many people self-represent because they simply don't have the money to afford representation. Of course, unlike criminal proceedings, the court is not obligated to provide free representation in civil trials. As well as most of the organisations that do provide free pro bono services to the public have income thresholds, so working-class and middle-class individuals get left out of these resources. Due to having the gross income, my non-profit would only require individuals to prove financial need. So if a middle-class worker's month-to-month bills and paycheck do not leave a sizeable room for attorney fees, then they would be accepted. Both of my ideas would impact the majority of the community. I want to pursue these ideas because I want the next generation to understand the benefits of communication, and the legal non-profit is to make sure no one falls through the cracks.

Hello! My name is Nailah Scarber, and I am from Inkster, MI. I currently attend the University of Detroit Mercy, studying pre-law and political science as a sophomore. I graduated from Cass Technical High School in 2025. I love to sing, write, dance and cook. I am the eldest of 3 and I love being a big sister with all of my heart. I plan to make a positive impact with my major by helping small businesses with their business contracts. I hope to do consultant work with small businesses because they are often overlooked and go under very early. I hope to help them make the correct contracts that will help their businesses succeed and become Metro Detroit staples in the long run. These businesses deserve a chance at local success, and I would love to help them achieve that. I would also like to build a non-profit organisation with my soon-to-be network of attorneys to provide pro-bono civil case work for middle-class to poverty-class individuals. During my internship at my local courthouse, I saw that many citizens have civil suits, which can range from landlord-tenant to insurance claims. However, in civil court, the court does not provide an attorney if you can't afford one. Many citizens end up representing themselves in these cases and struggle with the legal understanding of what they have to do. If they do find a pro-bono attorney, then their case is a needle in a haystack due to the amount of work a lot of pro-bono organisations find themselves in. My organisation would be comprised of lawyers and law firms that are eager to reconnect with the community. Depending on the type of cases, we would take a strong look at each and then decide to send them to specific lawyers or law firms. To make sure the attorneys can handle the court fees and can handle losing out on the billing hours, as well as not to overwhelm their own caseload. If I were blessed to be awarded this scholarship, it would help me cover impending tuition costs. Currently, my federal aid and institutional scholarship cover my tuition. But it is expected to rise about 2%, which is an additional $200-300 every year. So to achieve my goal of being debt-free, I would use this scholarship money to cover that deficit. I would also use it to help me cover my LSAT preparations for law school. As I have spoken with multiple current law students, the median costs of LSAT preparation and Law School Application fees are around $1,500-2,000. I plan on taking my LSAT during my junior year which is a year away. So I only have about a year to prepare for about half of this cost to take my LSATs. Considering my application, your help would be greatly appreciated in achieving my goals. I would really like to serve my community through the initiatives that I gave above. But I need to finish undergrad first, pass the LSAT with a competitive score and do law school applications. I hope you will be willing to support this vision.

Question Prompt: What lessons, memories, or experiences with your dad have had a lasting impact on you? It's been my dad and me since I woke up in the world. I was born when my dad was a junior in college, and at that time he was 20. When I was young, my dad was a single dad, and by the time I was middle school age, he was a single dad again. My parents married when I was 2 and divorced when I was 12. As you can tell from my opening, my dad had to go from boy to man very quickly. There's also no book on parenting, so it was my dad and I figuring this thing called life out together. Me figuring out womanhood, and him figuring out manhood. When I got to the helm of figuring out being a woman, my dad had a handle on what type of man he wanted to be. He wanted to be my dad, plain and simple. He told me when I got to my senior year that his dream was seeing my sisters' and I dreams come true. He had achieved everything, he knew what was in store for him, and he wasn't opposed to doing more. He just wanted to see me and my sisters get across the finish line first. That first step in the race to my finish line was my senior year of high school. My dad works with kids who are transitioning to higher education. He did not want me to have any college debt because he wanted me to start my young adult life debt-free. The deal between my dad and I was that the school that got me closest to being debt-free is where I would go. However, I had my own ambitions. I was tired of the eldest sibling's home structure with divorced parents. I wanted to get away and focus on myself. I didn't care how much it would cost me at the time because I was willing to pay any price for "self-care". Also, at the time I lost myself in escapism, shout out to Raye. I was making decisions based upon years of bottled-up emotions, and I was crying wolf to anyone who would listen. This caused growing pains between my dad and I, but he never gave in to my way, even when other family members were pressuring him to do so. The school I wanted to go to was a grey area as far as the plan of being debt-free. I had one other solid opportunity on the table. By the time I completed my senior year, I discovered that the school that I didn't want to go to had the better financial and academic opportunities. Before I even started my freshman year last year, I saw supernatural favour upon this school, and my path has been lit ever since. I always think back on this experience because, despite my behaviour at the time, my dad never threw in the towel. For a long time, I felt that because I was compliant and never an issue is what caused my dad to love and be proud of me. I was able to make my mistakes and give him a very hard time in my senior year, and after it was over. Our bond is stronger than ever, and his plan for me is working out for my greatest good.

Hello! My Name is Nailah Scarber, and I am currently a rising sophomore at the University of Detroit Mercy. I am studying Pre-Law Political Science with a Minor in History. I'm from the Metro Detroit area in Michigan with strong ties to Detroit. I'm currently active in my community with the youth through my Boys and Girls Club, Pretty Brown Girls and College. Career. Beyond- a Midnight Golf Program. I want to build my family, and that starts with completing myself. I am really passionate about there being more to life than degrees and an accomplished career. Although I do want those things for my life, I am on a path to achieve them. What keeps me up at night is that being the only thing in my life. I respect anyone who is a workaholic and finds value in work. For myself, I find the most memorable moments are the ones I've spent with my family. Ever since a young age, I've wanted to make those moments with my own husband and children. I think about the hard moments I may have while pursuing this great career, and who would be in my corner to back me? My family. I know that the only way for me to pour out the way I want to in wifehood and motherhood is to pour into myself. I like to say I'm pretty wise for my dating habits. However, I'm currently trying to build my self-love and self-worth. I'm not quick to leave a relationship, but I'm not one to waste my time either. However, like many women, I've recognised a tendency to oversacrifice in a relationship in order to save something. I had to ask myself the question Why am I trying so hard to save it? What about this situation or this individual made me think it's worth saving more than my peace? The answer was that I enjoyed the intimacy of companionship. I'm a very open book type of person, but like most people, I have things that I keep close to the vest. Things I only like to share with a significant other because it's that personal. I had to realise that enjoyment wasn't worth the pain ultimately. That led me to see that right now, serious dating is not what most people are thinking about. Even though that may be my way of dating. Until I see a shift in the mindset in my generation, I've been working on myself. I've been discovering things like I like to wake up mid-morning. I like to go to therapy and the spa. My self-care is getting my hair done, retail therapy and redecorating. Just those little things that add a je ne sei quois to my life and fulfilling them more often. I hope to share these tips with other young ladies who also find similar struggles as this by doing some motivational speaking. Once life settles down a bit.

Hello! My Name is Nailah Scarber, and I am currently a rising sophomore at the University of Detroit Mercy. I am studying Pre-Law Political Science with a Minor in History. I'm from the Metro Detroit area in Michigan with strong ties to Detroit. I'm currently active in my community with the youth through my Boys and Girls Club, Pretty Brown Girls and College. Career. Beyond- a Midnight Golf Program. Even though I do plan on being an attorney, I have felt a call to build with the organisations above or start my own non-profit centring around teaching young people about dating. This is because a lot of us receive dating advice from generations that are older than us. The landscape of dating has changed drastically since then. I would want to do a motivational talk series featured in these organisations or start my own coaching organisation. The information about dating that I received was based on face-to-face communication, interpersonal ethics, and semi-emotional intelligence. Nowadays, most interpersonal ethics are no longer practised. Most people interact through phones, whether it be texts or phone calls. Very rarely does someone go deep enough beyond the surface for emotional intelligence to even be fruitful. I would want to teach young people about the importance of communication, Basic interpersonal ethics such as consideration, and emotional intelligence, so that hopefully they come across each other. Or they can reach out to their peers to hand off these skills so that dating in today's generation does not feel like an impossible chess game. The reason it feels like a chess game is that we can't read each other. From our grandparents to as young as our older cousins, people were able to clearly read each other to tell what was going on. Also, with their generation, people were willing to tell the truth. Today, you can barely get someone to open up to you well enough for you to know them to be able to read them. Let alone telling someone the truth so that they can make a sound decision. It's these things that make dating complicated. I want to teach young people that the only way to truly have a good relationship foundation is to put these behaviours aside. It's okay to not want to be serious, but communicate that to someone. If we change these behaviours, then we build a better society built on trust and loyalty. I want to teach them it's not okay to "play" someone. I would talk to them about not changing your dating standards just because you find someone attractive. That's how individuals get hurt. It works both ways; someone who isn't a serious relationship person shouldn't get with someone who is a date-to-marry type. A date-to-marry shouldn't get with someone who dates casually unless it's been communicated that one or both parties want to try something different. I want them to know it's a little scary to put yourself out there like that. But that is how you protect yourself, by being honest with the other person and yourself. If you're honest at the beginning, then the relationship won't unfold on lies. Everyone is clear about what this is, and if it doesn't work out, hopefully it ends amicably. The worst thing is to grieve someone alive because it requires a different strength to move on. After all, you can always reach out. If a situation ends amicably, then both parties may be in a better space than if it didn't. This is the true dating game.