It was November 2019, a few days before Thanksgiving and a few months before I was going to take the Law School Admission Test. I sat with an attorney who read my personal-statement and who I thought was going to advise me on the law school process. I was delighted to meet her, another Black professional woman, but to my surprise, I was met with confusion. She told me, “ do not go to law school, it's a waste of your time”. 100 hrs, 3 months, zero meetings with friends and family, all went down the drain – time is a funny thing. The realm of possibilities for my life was limited, well that’s what I thought. I’ve been the first in my family to do a lot of things which include: graduating high school, graduating college, and having a salary-paid job – all of which feel amazing. Until I realized how crippling it was to my mind. I always felt the need to be the best person for my family. I thought about how I can break generational curses and make their life easier (whatever that means). The meeting with the attorney who we’ll call Jenn for confidential reasons is what brought me to a realization that I do not need to live life with limitations. That I can be the best person for myself. My passion was calling me to serve people but not just as an acting attorney. I saw my future as something that was not monolithic. I am a creative, an advocate, a changemaker and an optimist. How I implement change is what is most important. For this reason, I am pursuing my Master of Public Administration with a concentration in public policy analysis from New York University. So far, I've taken classes in policy, management, finance, and advocacy – all of which are preparing me to address the issues I am most passionate about. This scholarship will help me achieve my educational and professional goals. Currently, I am working full-time as a Policy Manager. Here, I work with system-impacted young people to support, teach and empower them. With an exorbitant cost of tuition, this scholarship will help relieve some of the financial burdens that I have. I take care of my family by paying for rent, food and cable. I take care of myself by furthering my education and commitment to juvenile justice. This scholarship will allow me to focus on my remaining semesters. I am hoping to continue working with young people and providing transformative change through public policy and education. It has been almost 3 years since I received that advice from Jenn. That day changed the course of my life, for the better. It taught me that there is more than one way to help people and that finding the way(s) that are best suited for you, is key. 3 years later, I still have more than one way I want to help marginalized communities. I am not taking being an attorney off the table yet. Time cannot be defined and my methods are to be determined. Certainly, this scholarship will help me get closer to my educational goals and for that, I am extremely grateful for this opportunity.

My name is Nyell Lopez, I am a big sister, I play chess and I enjoy writing poetry in cafes across New York City. I wanted to begin this essay with some personal hobbies and interests of mine before I begin to discuss my professional career. My educational background and professional experience are only one part of me. Oftentimes we forget to humanize ourselves and appreciate the quirky and obscure things that make us unique. I want this scholarship to encapsulate who I am currently and the path that I am creating. That being stated, I am currently in my third year at New York University (NYU). I will graduate in May 2023 with my Master of Public Administration and a specialization in Public Policy Analysis. My career goals are closely aligned with the current work that I do as a Policy/Program Manager at Girls for Gender Equity. I come from a family that has been impacted by the criminal justice system. I recognize the importance of having access to resources and the power of mentors. I have invested my time in uplifting communities that I am from by providing wellness programs and amplifying the voices of our young people. Currently, I work with system-impacted young Black girls who have been arrested, suspended, placed in foster-care or have been referred to as “at-risk”. The pathway to success is not often clear for them and up until I was 18 it was not clear for me either. Growing up in the Bronx, I was confronted with ethical dilemmas, some including, me versus my community and academics versus friendships. For some reason, I could never have both and making these decisions to go to class and not further develop relationships with people cost me what I believed to be ‘friendships. I performed exceptionally well in middle school, I was the first Black student to pass algebra, geometry and the living environment regents. I became the first in my family to graduate from college. Though I went to Syracuse University, being the first in my family to accomplish so many things was exhausting and what good does it bring to myself if I cannot open doors for others? Long before NYU, I was an advocate for uplifting marginalized and underserved communities. When I was in Syracuse, I interned with the New York Civil Liberties Union. There, I shed light on the school-to-prison-pipeline and lobbied for what is now the “Raise the Age Act” in NY. I taught young people how to play chess and strategically navigate the world as a person of color. However, my proudest accomplishment was helping a young Black boy who was 16 and in the 7th grade, attend a summer-intensive program that I developed and facilitated. The majority of his teachers gave up on him and did not believe that he would ever have academic success. The constant phone calls and home visits showed him that somebody cared for him and believed that he was worth it. He is currently a high school student and still is working towards his dreams of graduating high school. My teacher once described me as a statistical error. Every day I am breaking statistics and making sure young people of color do the same thing. With the money received from this scholarship, I will continue to pay down my debt and provide tools for young people to reach their goals (whatever that may be). Some of my students only want to live and as traumatizing as that may sound, my job is to provide them with the resources they need to sustain themselves.