I come from a family of three. My brother, mother and I. My mother raised us in Cameroon, though we were born in the USA. We went to Nursery and Primary School in Cameroon and often went to the USA for vacations in the summer. I am currently in high school at Holy Cross International College, Yaounde, Cameroon. My brother is studying Architecture, and I would like to study Cybersecurity. The tuition, room and board for both of us are significant (over $70,000). Our mother honestly wants to offer us the best education in the world. Any financial aid towards tuition and accomodation would definitely give her some relief. The first most difficult test in my life was the Cameroon General Certificate of Education Ordinary Level exam. I sat for 11 papers and passed with good grades: Chemistry A, Physics A, Mathematics A, Additional Mathematics A, Biology B, Computer Science A, Economics A, Geography A, English Language B, French A, and Religious Studies B. I recall how scared and worried I was before the exam, but my excellent results, the congratulatory messages, the gifts from family and friends boosted my self-esteem and confidence later. I continued into high school with a higher level of determination and I am presently preparing 5 papers in the GCE Advanced Level exam: Maths, ICT, Chemistry, Physics and Biology. I have come to realize more and more that self-discipline is paramount to getting excellent results. There is a proverb which says "As you sow, so shall you reap". I believe it is important to be of assistance to others. . If I were to give advise to any student, I would do all I can to convince them that discipline is key to success. Due to my performance in my Ordinary Level exam, the school gave me the privilege to be the Health and Sanitation Prefect in the school government. This leadership position involves managing 10-20 sick students in school, and making sure they were consistent with their medication, and taking temperatures during consultations. In caring for students who have missed their lessons, I encouraged them by telling them that they could still be successful in their studies if they are disciplined and that their sickness should not prevent them from shooting for excellence in their school work or anything else they undertake to do. The thing that made me know more about myself is that I can give more of myself and time to help others , and still be successful. We are sponsored by my single mother, and anything to help in tuition fees and books will be really appreciated. I am committed to work very hard and to keep my grades high as I have always done to maintain my eligibilty for scholarships.

I come from a family of three. My mother, my brother and I. I was raised by a single parent. I have observed her over the years as she organized herself to ensure she was able to provide what my brother and I needed. I am old enough now to look back at certain habits she instilled in us which we practiced innocently, that I now consider critical for success as I go through adolescence. Up till now, we did not have any reason to handle money. However, the were moments which she seized and turned them into teaching moments. Those moments came whenever we received monetary gifts from family friends and relatives for passing our exams. She taught us to put all our money received as cash into piggy banks. She would bring out the piggy bank, demonstrate how to put the money in it, and then showed us where she hid the bank so that the money would not be stolen. I would recall that when I would shake the bank next to my ear wondering what was in it, I would perceive contents in it even before I inserted my new money. There was always some old money inside the bank. She always told us to be careful from whom we receive money and to inform her about it so she can say thanks to the person. She would then take the money and put into the piggy bank. She always would say, “You have to save for the rainy day.” Our first visit to the bank was when my brother turned 10 just before going to secondary school. Our mother took both of us to the bank and showed us how to write on the sheet of paper required to make a deposit of the accumulated money we had extracted from our piggy banks. And so it went on, we would always keep our money in the piggy bank, and about once or twice a year, we would go deposit it in the bank. If we were not taught to save, we could have used the money to buy candy, to gamble (yes, several of my mates in school got in trouble gambling in game rooms), and other things. As we began to understand the value of money, whenever we received money, my mother would tell us to put a little aside to put as offering in church to say, “Thank you, God”. To this day, I have always deposited and never withdrawn from my account. This experience has trained me to save money even if I have very little. The saving habit is in me forever. I have learned not to waste money. I have learned to have a clear idea in mind what I need to do with money before I count it out to spend. When I have more money, I save more. My next venture is to learn how to do income growth investments. I will still count on my mother for common sense while I learn from financial experts. Nowadays, the world is so uncertain, and somewhat unpredictable. It feels good having a safety net to fall back on the day I am in serious financial need. My future is still unknown. But I am moving into the future with a solid foundation in financial education to take the right decisions in the management of my finances.

My academic goals are to master the subjects needed to create a foundation to become a cybersecurity expert and succeed in my General Certificate of Education (GCE) Ordinary and Advanced Level Examinations. After that, go to college to study Cybersecurity. I would like to work as a cybersecurity professional and open a company to offer the services of cybersecurity. My context of community is the Catholic-based boarding school which I attend called Holy Cross International College in Yaounde, Cameroon. The final year of secondary school is distinct because it is the first year I would face a major examination in my career (my life). In preparation for the GCE exam, I had 11 subjects to master. I wrote the exams in June 2024. In August, the results were proclaimed. I passed with results that placed me in honor roll – 8 As and 3 Bs. Chemistry A, Physics A, Mathematics A, Additional Mathematics A, Biology B, Computer Science A, Economics A, Geography A, English Language B, French A, and Religious Studies B. Wow! It would appear I was transformed by this success. My self-esteem and self-confidence emerged. I suddenly could talk and express myself and inspire others behind me. This confidence was rewarded by being elected the Health and Sanitation Prefect in the school government at Holy Cross International College. As health prefect, I had to manage 10 to 20 sick students in school, making sure they were consistent with medicine, and taking temperatures during consultations. As sanitation prefect I supervised cleaning activities on campus. I am expected to continue being a good student while serving in these responsibilities in high school. The strategy I applied upheld discipline, being organized, and expedient. Discipline because, without it, success is compromised. Organized, because time management is critical given the number of activities to do in a day. Time is a precious asset. I have 24 hours a day like everyone else. To get things done well, and completely, I had to be expedient. I avoided procrastination. At the back of my mind, I would hear my mother always say, “procrastination is the thief of time”. When a student is ill, so much is going through their mind. He or she has emotions and feelings that I must consider when handling them even in simple activities like giving them their daily medications. The student might also want to use their illness as the reason for failure, giving up, and dropping out. When giving medication, I show compassion by telling them “ashia” (means sorry, or get well soon in local parlance), however, the medicine has to get into the mouth and go down so that they can get better and back to class. This process was unique for each student every morning. When they began showing signs of improvement, I would say to them and reiterate that their improvement is because they followed the directions of the campus doctor. Until the day of the last pill (liberation day), I shared their joy of convalescence. I was overjoyed when a student came to say she would not have gotten better if I dd not make her take her pills and said “thank you”. Those words just fueled me to continue to do my best with each student, every pill, every day. The leadership experience inspired me to make a difference in whatever I do. I believe my leadership background gives me the ability to apply discipline, time management and expedience which are skills for successful leadership. After completing my studies in Cybersecurity, I anticipate running a cybersecurity company to offer internships for rising cybersecurity students.

I come from a family of three. My brother, mother and I. From the time I could remember, I have been a very happy child. My mother brought us up in Cameroon, though we were born in the USA. We went to Nursery and Primay school in Cameroon and often went to the United States for vacations in the summer. I am currently in high school at Holy Cross International College, Cameroon. My brother is studying Architecture, and I would like to study Cyber Security. The tuition, room and board fees for both of us are significant (over $70000). Our mother honestly wants to offer us the best education in the world. Any financial aid towards tuition and accomodation would definitely give her some relief. The first most difficult test of my life was the Cameroon General Certificate of Education, Ordinary Level. I sat for 11 papers, which I all passed. Maths-A, French-A, English-B, Chemistry-A, Physics-A,Biology-B, Computer Science-A, Economics-A, Geography-A, Religious studies-B, Additional Maths-A. I recall how apprehensive I was before the exam, but my results and the congratulatory messages, the gifts from family and friends boosted my self-esteem and confidence. I continued into high school with a higher level of determination and presently preparing for 5 papers in the Cameroon General Certificate of Education, Advanced Level: Maths, ICT, Chemistry, Physics and Biology. Self discipline is paramount to getting excellent results. There is a proverb which says “As you sow, so shall you reap”. I believe it is important to be of assistance to others. If I were to give advise to any student, I would advise that discipline is the key to success. Due to my performance in my Ordinary level examination, the school gave me the privilege to be the Health and Sanitation prefect in the school government. This leadership position involves managing 10 to 20 sick students in school, and making sure they were consistent with their medications, and taking temperatures during consultations. In caring for these students who have missed lessons, I encourage them by telling them that they can still be successful in their studies if they are disciplined and that their illness should not prevent them from excellence. The thing that made me know more about myself is that I can give more of myself and my time to help others, and still be successful. We are sponsored by a single mother, and anything to help in tuition fee and books will be really appreciated. For my own part, I'm committed to work very hard and keeping my grades up as I have done so far to maintain my eligibility for scholarships.

Cyber Security is a very interesting field in Information Technology, dealing with protecting data and computer systems from cyber threats and attacks. This is a field with appllications in several domains like Banking, school administration, social media, identification, and several others. The world is quickly changing, especially with technology that’s growing rapidly, and I believe it’s important to have skills which involves working remotely from home, or with colleagues in a distant workplace. Films and short videos are one of the most important tools used in communication and business. The things which attract me to film studies are: the sound, which determines the mood in each scene; the camera movements and positions whcih make a scene visually interesting; the editing of video clips(filters, adding 3D objects, special effects). I habitually go on Youtube to watch the “behind the scenes” of some movies just to have a rough idea of how they are being made. I plan to study for a bachelor's degree in cyber security & Data forensicsas a major, and a minor in film, and later specialise in Film production, because of career choice. The above described characteristics of cyber security and film lend to a variety of income generating businesses, which can be done as a individual or in partnerships. I have planned to have an entrepreneurial career to be able to generate income, whether I am at home or at a workplace. The period of the COVID-19, which caused a lot of unemployment in many countries, has taught me to be able to have a business that I can do from home. Examples of things that I can do from home are: Cyber security, film editing, programming, etc. Teamwork is required in film production. I plan to find contracts as a programmer within film agencies in which I can serve multiple rows with my skills. What will make successful entrepreneurship are research, feasibliby studies to determine investments (what to invest, how to invest, and how much to invest), business planning, and more. However, discipline and self-control in business management are fundamental to business success. A successful life to me is to be able to satisfy my needs, to be productive, generate a descent wage to sustain my family, travel from one place to another, have my own free time, health and stability. It would be a marvelous privilege to be the winner of the Jessie Koci Future Entrepreneurs Scholarship.