An important black leader in my life is my Upward Bound Director, Corrina Qualls. Ms. Qualls has been working with PNW Upward Bound since November 2021. She started as an academic coordinator and has since worked to become the program director. I have had the privilege of having her as a mentor, seeing her grow professionally as she taught my peers and I many things along the way. In the short time I have known her, Ms. Qualls has been an integral part of my life. She has helped me with essays for school and scholarships and has helped me open up to new people and places. When I attended boarding school my mandatory Upward Bound meetings, with Ms. Qualls, gave me something to look forward to every month. Though not many people knew this, I was struggling mentally, her smile and encouraging words were something I could always count on. Unbeknownst to her she was able to lift my spirits with one call. Ms. Qualls’ biggest impact on my life was the strength she showed us when she was doing the job of 5 people, and continuing to wear a smile on her face. I could tell that Ms. Qualls was undergoing a lot of stress. Not only was she scheduling advising meetings, recruiting new students, planning trips, and taking on many other roles, but she also had to make time for herself. Though she only carried this weight for a month, it may have been one of the busiest months for seniors. In addition to the aforementioned tasks, she was reading scholarship essays, writing college recommendation letters, and keeping seniors up to date on new scholarships. The strength that she portrayed during this difficult time has taught me to face any hardships with a smile on my face. It seemed like Ms. Qualls was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders, and many of the challenges I faced, though they seemed big at the time, did not amount to keeping two programs running. Ms. Qualls did not let the stress get to her, that amount of strength and perseverance in a professional setting is unparalleled to anything I have seen. Not only has Ms. Qualls shown an immense level of strength, but she has also shown me and the other Upward Bound students a great deal of empathy. In programs like Upward Bound, students come in on many different levels mentally and emotionally. Though it is not a requirement, it helps students to connect with adults when they can meet them where they are. This is a skill that Ms. Qualls possesses, that not many adults have acquired. Empathy is a skill of utmost importance. Many teachers are not able to relate to their students, though that does not make them any less of a teacher, it makes it much harder for students to appreciate their efforts. This is a skill I hope to carry with me in my career, messages are best delivered when students feel connected to those that deliver them. I plan to take the empathy that Ms. Qualls has shown me over the years with me for the rest of my life, Her hard work, dedication to helping us succeed, and overall genuine care have shaped me into the person I am today and who I aspire to be and I will use this not only with my students but in everyday interactions as well.

The majority of the sports I have played were team sports. Success depended on how well you played as a team; cooperation was imperative. On the other hand, golf allows you to see your improvement and the final score depends on you. My favorite part of golf was seeing my improvement with each swing. Playing golf also gave me a lot of fresh air and even more steps in. I started playing golf during my freshman year, in 2020. This was the first year COVID-19 was in full swing, affecting how we practiced. This was the only sport my school thought we would be approved to play for the year, which was a big part of why I stuck with it initially. There was so much in question about what we could share and how close we could be. It was confusing, and it affected the way I learned to play. Along with the challenges of COVID-19, playing golf as a girl came with challenges too. The athletic director of our program at one of my schools was biased toward boys' sports, especially football and basketball. This led to underfunding of our program. At another school I attended, there was only boys' golf, so I did not get to play that year. As an African American female, I have also faced racial discrimination while playing golf. People would look at my sister and me as if we didn't belong. Someone turned their nose up and looked at us much longer than socially acceptable. He successfully made us uncomfortable, but it only inspired us to keep playing, which is the opposite of what he intended. Despite some of the challenges I have faced playing golf, I continue to play. Though I am no longer playing for a team, I enjoy going to hit with my family sometimes. Golf gives me a sense of freedom that I do not get while playing other sports. the sound the club makes when it makes contact with the ball makes everything else melt away, even if it is just for a second. Golf is a sport that I plan to play for the rest of my life, teaching my kids, and continuing to play with my sisters. I would also like to share my love of golf with others. If I have the opportunity I would like to coach or co-coach girls' golf at the school I teach at. Overall, golf has made me a much better person. The challenges I have faced have only made me stronger and I now have a sport I can continue to play, no matter how old I am.

Reading has always been able to transport me to another world. As a kid, I would primarily read fiction, just for the fun of it, never to learn. I still prefer reading for fun, and though I may not be reading facts, I still manage to end the books with a few takeaways. Most books I read now teach me that life could be a lot worse. Many people compare their lives to others, whether that's a celebrity, a mentor, or a neighbor. In comparison, it is easy to see others' lives with rose-colored glasses, where our lives could look bleak. This is especially easy on social media because most people post the good in their lives as opposed to the bad. In many books I read, a few being It Ends With Us, Everything After, and When Noone's Watching, the characters went through a lot for a decent part of the book. The unfortunate events these characters endure show me that though I may catch a bad break every once in a while, I have a lot going for me. These books have shaped my goals, primarily by making me strive to be more optimistic. I have been known to be a pessimistic person, always seeing what could go wrong or the negative side of things. I have come to realize that when in a negative mindset, the negative things seem to be abundant. In this mindset, I tend to miss the seemingly little joys in life. I know that I do not have a bad life, and I do not want to ruin that by walking around with a chip on my shoulder. To accomplish this goal I may not choose to romanticize my life or try to look at my life through a rose-colored lens but I will choose to see the good things in my life. I may not stop and smell the flowers but I will slow down to look at them. Day by day I will attempt to enjoy the little things until the little things in my life become big things that positively affect my mood. With a positive mindset, I know I will get far. Pessimism is a mindset that I have learned, holds me down. It leads to doubt and self-consciousness. These character traits could be detrimental to big dreams. By being optimistic I can allow my dreams to grow and change despite the odds.

In a world where your parents’ financial status can determine your quality of education, there needs to be teachers who care about their students despite the area they live in or their income level. This is the type of teacher I hope to be. I want to work in urban, low-income schools so that I can work with students who were not given much of a chance, students like me. I want to teach all of my students that they are worthy of much more than they know. That anything they put their minds to they can achieve. I also want to show them that even if they do not have much support at home, they will always have me to support them. Whether I end up teaching second grade or twelfth, I never want my students to forget that they had a teacher who truly cared about them, not just their education, but the whole of them. Not only will I do this but I will also try to teach them the positive aspects of their history. Teaching them of people like Madam C. J Walker who came from nothing and became the first female African American millionaire. Ensuring them that despite any challenges that they may face they can endure.

Volleyball was one of the first team sports that I got into. I started in 7th grade, I tried out my 6th-grade year but did not make the cut, I was told I was too short. When I went home I cried because all of my friends got in and I felt like a failure. Though I hadn't played before tryouts I beat myself up for not getting in. By the time tryouts came around for the next year I didn't plan on trying out, I didn't want to fail again. My parents told me that if I really wanted to play I would go and try out again. So I put aside my pride and tried out, and to my surprise, I made the team, I was ecstatic. Once I made the team I didn't really know what to expect, I never played or watched volleyball before but I was ready to give it my all. I went from hardly getting any playing time at the beginning of the season to being a starter at the end. I had made a lot of progress in so little time, I was very proud of myself. I ended up playing volleyball from my 6th-grade year to my 10th-grade year and only stopped because I transferred schools. Volleyball taught me perseverance, and progress over perfection, and it made me a little bit more secure about myself. I learned to keep pushing, if I hadn't tried out my 7th-grade year, I probably would have been stuck on the fact that I didn't make the team and would have prevented myself from trying out from anything else. It also taught me to value progress over perfection. When I started I wanted to be the best in order to prove that I should have been on the team all along. After a while of trying to be perfect, I realized that I wasn't making any progress, so I stopped trying to prevent myself from looking like I didn't know what I was doing and asked for help. After a while, I saw that I was getting much better than I had been before I started. Lastly, volleyball taught me to be more comfortable in my skin. I hated that I had to wear such short shorts, I was always so self-conscious, thinking everyone would be looking at my legs. After a while, I got used to being in the shorts and stopped caring if anyone was looking. After getting over how I looked I was able to play much better. To bring my knowledge with me to college I will continue to value progress over perfection. I now know that I can not expect to be the best at everything and as long as I am progressing not regression I will be okay. I will also continue to persevere despite any no's. Lastly, I will try to remain comfortable in my skin, I now know that confidence will enhance my abilities.

A career in education was never something I could see myself pursuing, there was something about being in school for the rest of my life that made me stay away from it. That was until I attended Indiana Academy in my junior year. Before attending the Academy, I wanted to become a pediatric neurologist. About two weeks into the school year I began cadet teaching in a second-grade class because I was missing my sisters. I felt that being around people the same age as my sister may help me to adjust quickly. When I began cadet teaching I was convinced that I would not be switching my career, but after about the first four weeks, I started to consider being a teacher. While in the second-grade class, I would read to the class, help the students with their work, and I would teach a few lessons. Being in this classroom showed me that I could help children in more ways than healing them, I could teach them too. Initially, I tried to avoid the desire to change my career, it was going to be a huge salary jump and I didn't think the lifestyle I imagined for myself would fit the profession. The more I was in that class though the more I wanted to become a teacher, despite my desire to fight it, I did not want to end up going to school for something that my heart was not in. By pursuing a career in education I will still be able to follow my passion, helping future generations. I truly believe that children are the future and I want to let them know that they have a voice that does not need to be silenced. I was encouraged by my parents to speak up, but I know that not everyone has the same privilege. I plan to make my classroom a place for all of my students to express themselves freely so that no one feels like they have to cower at the feet of anyone. I want someone that they can look up to, someone they can come to if they need help, and someone they can look back on fifty years later and say, "She really cared about me." I had a few teachers who helped me to become the person I am today, and I have seen several teachers make an impact on other students. I would like to let my students know that they can make a difference in this world and hopefully influence them to be the best versions of themselves.

"Can't hear my thoughts like blah-blah-blah," this is a line from "Bad Idea Right?" that describes both my junior and senior year so far. It seems like so much goes on in my head throughout the day that it has become challenging to keep my thoughts in order. Usually, this happens when I am stressed and these past two years have been very stressful. To try and keep my thoughts in order I started to write them down but even then I feel like I am all over the place. The inability to hear my thoughts happened so frequently last year that I created a term for it. At times I would say that there was a tornado or a storm in my head. This meant that my thoughts were swirling around in my head and the majority of the time they were unintelligible. When this happened sometimes I would put everything down and relax either watching TV, reading, or sleeping. Other times it got so bad I would cry or end up having a panic attack. It's a bit easier to control now but occasionally life gets overwhelming. Lately, it has been hard to hear my thoughts my mind wants to wander everywhere. I get overwhelmed when I think of all of the responsibilities that I have as a senior like scholarships and college applications. I also get stressed with all of my extracurricular activities and homework. All of that is on top of the things outside of my control. I currently have two uncles in the hospital one of which was recently diagnosed with cancer. This is scary for me especially considering three years ago his brother died of cancer and another of my uncles past this year. This has been something weighing heavily on both my head and my heart and is occasionally mixed in my thoughts. To settle my mind I am trying to remember to practice mindfulness. I have learned breathing techniques that are meant to help slow everything down and I plan to implement those in my everyday life. I also want to take time out of my week to plan out my day by the hour so that I am not as stressed about what I need to do and when. Along with that, I want to create time in my day to sort my thoughts, taking at least five minutes to sit in the quiet. Though these lyrics don't necessarily capture the essence of childhood, they capture the part of childhood that I am dreading, the end. Before middle school, these lyrics would not have been relatable to me but as I have gotten older I feel every part of them. I hope that I can get to a point in my life where these lyrics no longer apply to my life.

My Instagram username is 0nevaeh6.

"Money is good for nothing unless you know the value of it by experience."- PT Barnum. My parents have always been money minded individuals. When my dad was younger he would sell garbage bags of popcorn to his neighbors and make a killing, at least for a nine year old in the eighties. My parents never gave up their money mindedness, ever since I could remember they have had an extra source of income. My dad owns a printing company, my mom owns a real estate company, and they created a clothing line for us and purchased a rental house in our names. I am not lost on how to make money, but what Barnum said was true, it's the experience that makes all the difference. My family is pretty well off, and I say this in the most middle class way. When I was younger my friends would think we were rich because we had a three story house and they were living in an apartment. I thought we had it made until I started to realize some of the financial struggles my parents went through. I am aware that compared to many people I do not know a struggle, and I do not claim to, but it seems as though my parents beat themselves up about the lifestyle they gave us. My parents never wanted us to grow up without us having our wants and needs. They sacrificed a lot so that we could have toys at Christmas and nice clothes for school. They made sure that we were not growing up the same way they did. After I got older I began to learn some of the struggles my parents kept hidden from us. The one that hurts me the most is that my dad was never able to pursue his dream because he feared not being able to provide for his family. I plan to use this scholarship to take some of the burden off of my parents shoulders. Come fall of 2024 they will have to put two kids through college and I do not want them to have to decide whether they pay for my schooling or buy a new dryer because the one they had broke. My sisters and I have put a pause on my parents life, though they took on the role of parents with a smile, I do not want them to have to take care of me all my life. This scholarship would take a bit of the weight off of my parents back and will bring me a step closer to graduating debt free. I do not want to still be paying off college debt when I am in retirement, being that I am going to college to be a teacher with a master’s degree, I know any amount I can get would be helpful. When I am older I want to be able to provide a life for my kids where they won’t have to worry about money, just like my parents did for me. Earning this scholarship would help me achieve that goal.