For much of my childhood, I watched my parents struggle to communicate with one another. Like many children, I grew up between two households, but my experience became more complicated when my sister left home at a young age to live with my father instead of my mother. I remember wondering how that decision had been made and, more importantly, what had gone wrong. We were little girls. We did not always understand the disagreements happening around us, but we felt their consequences. What I remember most was the constant back and forth arguments, misunderstandings, and each side blaming the other. As I grew older, I began to understand that conflict rarely stays between the people who are arguing. It affects everyone around them. It changes how families communicate, how children understand relationships, and how people learn to respond to disagreement. Even as a child, I had an instinct that I did not want to accept this as normal. That instinct has stayed with me. When I encounter disagreement, I try to listen before judging, understand where each person is coming from, and find common ground without pretending that differences do not exist. I have learned that listening does not mean agreeing, and that understanding someone does not require abandoning your own perspective. I cannot say that I solved the conflict in my family. I did not. But I learned that mediation is not always about being the person who fixes everything. Sometimes it is about being the person who refuses to add to the division. It is choosing conversation over silence, and connection over the need to prove someone wrong. I have seen how disconnection can affect a family, and I believe communities can experience the same kind of separation. When people lack affordable opportunities to gather, when outdoor activities and shared spaces are inaccessible, or when someone is struggling and feels that they have nowhere to turn, people can live next to one another without truly feeling connected. I want to help change that. I want to create and support communities where people have access to affordable activities, shared spaces, and opportunities to build relationships regardless of their circumstances. Just as importantly, I want those communities to remain open when people are struggling. I believe peace building is not only about resolving conflict after it begins; it is also about creating the relationships and spaces that prevent people from becoming isolated in the first place. My family taught me how deeply division can affect the people we love. It also taught me that division should never be something we simply accept as normal. I want to spend my life building the opposite: communities rooted in communication, openness, accessibility, and mutual responsibility. Peace, to me, has to start at home and then extend outward. Peace, to me, has to start at home, and sometimes home can even be ourselves. It begins with learning how to listen, understand, and make room for perspectives beyond our own before we can ask communities to do the same. As a Political Science major at Howard University, I want to continue exploring how state and federal policies respond to the challenges communities face, how those policies can create or deepen conflict, and how they ultimately shape the relationships between people and the institutions that serve them. Receiving this scholarship would mean a great deal to me because it would allow me to further my research at a leading research university while continuing to learn from and collaborate with great minds who challenge me to think beyond what I already know.

Nina Brown Plato, The Allegory of the Cave (Republic, Book Seven) Translated by Oleg Bychkov, Theology Department, St. Bonaventure University “See, Glaucon, we will not do wrong by those lovers of wisdom among us if we compel them to care for others and protect them, but we will ask them to do the right thing. For we will tell them: “Those who become lovers of wisdom in other states usually do not participate in their political activities. They grow up on their own, for none of the political systems want to have anything to do with them. It is also fair that someone who matures on her own and does not owe anybody for her upbringing does not have to provide upbringing and nurture to anybody. However, we have made you, as it were, to be queens of the hive, leaders of yourselves and of the rest of the citizens, and we have educated you much better and more perfectly than the rest and made you more able to bear this double responsibility. Now each of you must take turns, go down into the cave where the others live and get accustomed to seeing in the dark. For once you do get accustomed to the conditions of the cave you will be able to see a thousand times better than the cave dwellers and will know what all the shadows are and what casts them, for you have seen true beauty, true justice, and true goodness. And in this way the state, both for your sake and for our sake, will be governed by people who are truly aware of reality, and not by those who wander in the land of dreams, like in the other states that are currently governed by those who fight each other about shadows and struggle for power as if it were some great good. But in truth the situation is as follows: the state is necessarily governed in the best and most peaceful manner if those who are destined to rule it are the ones most reluctant to rule, and the state where the rulers are most eager to rule fares the worst.” Through education, and exposure to different perspectives, individuals can gain a deeper understanding of reality, and those who achieve this understanding have a responsibility to use it in service of others. In this passage from Plato's "Allegory of the Cave," Socrates and Glaucon discuss and highlight the relationship between wisdom, and responsibility. Through their conversation, Socrates suggests that wisdom is valuable not only for personal enlightenment but also for the benefit of society. Socrates develops this idea by contrasting those who remain trapped in the cave with those who have experienced "true beauty, true justice, and true goodness." which they get from leaving the cave. The distinction suggests that a broader understanding of reality gives individuals a unique ability to recognize truth and make sound judgments. Socrates emphasizes that wisdom is acquired through experience and exposure to perspectives beyond one's immediate surroundings. The inhabitants of the cave are limited by what they have always known as truth, causing them to mistake shadows for reality. By contrast, those who leave the cave learn to see beyond appearances and understand the causes behind them. When Socrates states that enlightened individuals "will be able to see a thousand times better than the cave dwellers," he is not referring to physical sight. Rather, he is describing an intellectual and moral clarity that comes from questioning assumptions and seeking a deeper understanding of the world. However, Plato's argument extends beyond one's personal growth. Socrates insists that those who have gained wisdom must return to the cave and assist those who remain there. He explains that the educated citizens have been prepared "to bear this double responsibility", which is significant because it presents knowledge as both a privilege and a duty. Wisdom is not meant to isolate individuals from society, it is meant to equip them to improve it. This act of responsibility is especially important in leadership. Socrates argues that the best rulers are those who are "most reluctant to rule," while states governed by those eager for power "fare the worst." Through this contrast, Plato challenges the assumption that ambition alone qualifies someone to lead. Those who seek power for its own sake are more likely to pursue personal gain, whereas those reluctant to rule are motivated by a sense of duty. I believe Plato emphasizes this through Socrates because they have seen beyond the "shadows" that mislead others, so they are better equipped to govern fairly and pursue the common good. Ultimately, Plato suggests that education should lead not only to knowledge but also to service. By exposing individuals to new experiences and perspectives, education enables them to understand reality more clearly. Yet this understanding carries an obligation. Those who achieve wisdom must use it to guide, and improve their communities and surroundings. Through Socrates' discussion with Glaucon, Plato presents leadership as an act of responsibility rather than a pursuit of power, arguing that the people best suited to govern are those who view authority as a duty to society rather than a reward for themselves. Plato's message remains relevant in the leadership challenges we see today, not only in government and public life, but in schools, workplaces, and everyday life. Today, opportunities to gain new perspectives are more accessible than ever through education, travel, and even social media. While social media can sometimes make it seem as though everyone is constantly exploring the world and gaining new experiences, its greatest value lies not in comparison but in the ability to connect people to different cultures and ideas. These experiences can broaden understanding and inspire individuals to use their knowledge to uplift others and contribute positively to their communities. In this way, true leadership is measured not by the power one holds, but by the willingness to use knowledge to uplift those around them.

Mental health has shaped nearly every part of my life, from my goals and relationships to the way I understand the world around me. It is a journey that continues every day, one that I strive to navigate with greater understanding and compassion. For as long as I can remember, I have felt emotions deeply. Whether I was happy, sad, confused, or overwhelmed, I experienced those feelings intensely. While that has sometimes been difficult, it has also taught me something important: feeling deeply is part of being alive. There were times when I struggled to navigate the intensity of my emotions, especially when multiple feelings seemed to compete for my attention at once. When I was angry, it felt as though I could not see beyond that emotion. Looking back, I now understand that part of this experience was connected to having ADD. While I always knew it could make school more challenging, since most conversations focused solely on academics. What I was not prepared for was how it could affect me internally. No one explained how frustration could build so quickly, how emotions could sometimes feel too overwhelming, or how those experiences could influence my relationships and self-perception. As a result, I often kept my struggles to myself, which made it difficult for the people around me to understand what I was experiencing and created distance in some of my relationships. Understanding this connection helped me realize that mental health is about much more than what others can see on the surface. Learning how to recognize and manage my emotions has been one of the most important challenges of my life. Along the way, I learned that shutting people out does not protect me, it creates distance between me and the people who care about me. Through these experiences, I have come to value communication, vulnerability, and the importance of allowing others to support me. As I became more aware of my own mental health, I began to notice how mental health affects everyone. Too often, people focus on a person's actions without considering what may be happening beneath the surface. I have seen how mental health struggles can influence everyday life in ways that are often invisible to others. Seeing family members struggle with addiction, incarceration, and even death has been one of the most painful experiences of my life. What troubled me most was that many conversations focused only on the consequences of their actions rather than the experiences that shaped them. Rarely did people discuss the trauma they endured, the challenges they faced growing up, their educational struggles, or the emotional pain they carried. Watching this made me question how easily we judge people without understanding their full story. It taught me that mental health, trauma, and life experiences often play a larger role in a person's choices than we realize, and it strengthened my belief that compassion and understanding should be part of every conversation. My emotions have challenged me, but they have also helped me grow. Over time, I have learned that emotions are not problems to be ignored or weaknesses to overcome. The more compassion we show ourselves when experiencing difficult feelings, the better we can understand them. As I prepare to study Political Science with a focus on law at Howard University, I hope to use my education to advocate for people whose struggles are often overlooked. I know I cannot solve every challenge people face, nor can I force others to speak openly about their experiences. What I can do is help create environments where people feel heard, understood, and supported. My experiences with mental health have shown me how powerful it can be when someone listens without judgment and reminds you of your potential. Because of that, I hope to use my future career to encourage meaningful conversations, strengthen communities, and advocate for policies that support the well-being of others. Mental health has taught me that every person carries a story that cannot always be seen, and I hope to bring that understanding and compassion into every community I serve.