I am both a first-generation American and a first-generation college student. I was adopted at the age of six from Ukraine into a working-class, multicultural family. A great incident that played a major role in my life was the divorce of my parents only four years after my adoption. After the separation of my parents, I was raised by my father. During that time while trying to support us, my father was unfortunately injured at work. His injury caused him to get laid off and lose all his benefits for both of us. During that stressful time, while living paycheck to paycheck, I learned the importance of saving every penny. Knowing that my father would be unable to help support me financially through college, I made it a habit to save all the earnings I made since the age of thirteen. As a result, I would do chores and yard work for neighbors, and babysit friends and family. To reduce the burden on my father, I joined the U.S. Army Reserve at the age of eighteen while I was still in high school. I also took out student loans. If I was given the opportunity to win the scholarship, I would place the money towards continuing my higher education and achieve my goal of working in a Federal Law Enforcement Agency to help children in need.

Dr. Martin Luther King Junior once stated, “I have a dream…” Each and every one of us has our very own dreams no matter how big or small they may be. Those dreams reflect our career, personal, and academic goals and fulfilling them gives us a sense of purpose. Although having a sense of purpose may be confusing to some and can bring a great sense of uncertainty, many realize they want to do something to give their life meaning. From a very young age, I knew that I wanted to help children in need. It is my goal to give children in need the opportunities I was fortunate to have after getting adopted at the age of six from a high poverty country. Everyone has different reasons for pursuing their education. My primary reason to strive for a higher education is to learn from quality faculty and students so that I can strive toward my life goal of helping children in need. My short-term educational goals are to do well in my classes and to enroll in several elective classes such as HFE 121 Strength Train 1, HFE 150 Contemp Health ISS, HFE 250 Nutrition Wellness, HFE 255 Stress Management, and many others. Those elective courses will help me to learn how to not only take care of my physical and mental health, but also those of others. My long-term educational goal is to obtain a Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice which could help provide me an entry level position into a Federal Agency. I plan on obtaining my Associates degree at McHenry County College and then transferring to either the University of South Florida or the University of Illinois at Chicago for my undergraduate and graduate studies. Since I am also in the Army Reserves, I plan on advancing from a Specialist to an Officer. My career goal is to use my degrees to continue my Army career and join a Federal Agency to help children who are victims of human trafficking. Children are the most innocent individuals in our society and they need guidance and love to shape them into responsible and respectable citizens. As a child born into the foster system in a third world country and adopted as six, I know that many children do not ask for their current life situations. As a result, my life goal is to harmonize my educational and professional pursuits so that I may modernize the justice system to help protect children.