Johnny and the little blue bug Johnny was walking in his room, he was listening to his tunes A little blue bug was under his rug The bug was dancing to the song as Johnny sang along ¨Don't walk over me” said the bug Johnny was too busy to hear his cries so the bug shouted out “Please stop I could die!¨ The bug feared that he would be trampled Johnny seemed not to care for he was dancing everywhere The little blue bug was no longer snug under the rug; He decided the best he could do is tug on Johnny Johnny felt the little tug so he proceeded to pick up the rug There he found the little blue bug Johnny thought the bug seemed friendly so he gave him some of his jelly The bug was grateful for this gesture so he took him on an adventure They seemed to make a great pair and got along pretty fair All until it started to rain It began with a pitter-patter then ascended a little faster The little blue bug started to slip away Then the very next day, He was found by a great dane For that was the end of their great adventure But from now on Johnny knows how to have a little laughter

This is my dog, Lucille. She is named after Lucille Ball. She is a very happy dog (except when she wears clothes) and loves to smile at people. Lucy is the friendliest dog of all time. She is my perfect match. We both even have ginger hair! Lucy is a Tazi and a second-generation American, her mom is the first of their breed to be in America. She is very unique and special. I hope she can bring a smile to your face just as she brings a smile to ours.

This past year was nothing but normal. In March 2020, my high school experience completely changed. We had to stay home and do online school because of the COVID 19 pandemic. I was a junior at the time. When you're a high school junior, you are expected to be touring and planning where you are going to college. I did not have this opportunity. Thankfully right before the pandemic hit, I toured two universities. One of which I thought was alright, but the second school I went to I instantly fell in love. Only one thing stood in my way. The cost. The very, very high cost. I knew the only thing I could do at this point was pray. Pray to get a generous scholarship so I could afford to go to the one place I feel would make me happy for the next four years of my life. Every day was another day of me patiently waiting to find out if I had gotten a good scholarship. A couple of weeks after being accepted, I finally got a letter in the mail. I opened it up and saw the amount. $17,000. A few more months pass and I get another email. It's a special invitation to apply for an increase in my scholarship up to full tuition. I was sitting in the corner of my mom’s closet when I learned that I got a $3,000 increase in my scholarship, equaling $20,000 a year. The exact amount I was going for. In order to have accomplished this, I had to work very hard. I have strongly focused on academics during high school. I have an unweighted GPA of 3.67. I will be going into college with 34 credits already under my belt. I have achieved this within the past two years. I had to put in a lot of hard work. I've sacrificed different activities so I can have enough time for my school work. Not only did I have my school work to worry about, but I also work part-time, teach Sunday school at my church, and had my semester-long internship. After school, my second biggest priority is work. I push myself to my limit when I am working. I have learned time management and the importance of saving your money through this process. The biggest hurdle I had to go through in the past year is teaching myself at home. Although my courses are technically dual credit, there is no high school teacher. I am also a virtual student so I have to figure everything out myself via my computer at home. Having to teach myself all of this content has made me be more independent and responsible. This will also improve my future teaching career. Because of my hard work, I will be going into college as a sophomore and will graduate in 3 years. This is very important to me because it will save me a lot of money and time. I believe this makes me unique and shows how much I have achieved during my high school career. After getting my scholarship, I understood that all of my hard work paid off. I am now able to attend my dream school and even graduate a year early. I now understand the power of prayer and that nothing is impossible when you work for it. I believe that my work ethic has been very strong this past year and is evident in all my accomplishments.

I will be attending Oral Roberts University in the fall to major in elementary special education. I hope to become a special education teacher. I know it won't be easy, but I can see myself doing it for the rest of my life. I am so excited to start college and start learning and growing in this field. I love seeing growth in others and being the one to plant the seed would be a great feeling. I hope to eventually get a master's degree to further my education and improve my teaching skills. In my classroom, I want all of my students to feel loved and important. I know not everyone comes from the greatest home life so I hope that for the slim part of their lives they are in my class, they feel welcomed and appreciated. I truly realized my passion for teaching and special education during my sophomore year of high school. I needed a PE credit at my school, but I do not enjoy intense physical activity so I was looking for something milder. To my surprise, I found a class that wasn’t even on the course selection guide called Partners in PE. This class works with the special education students at my high school and you become their partners in PE class. I was so excited I found this class because it sounded much more up my alley. I ended up taking this class and falling in love with it. Being mentors to kids with disabilities made me realize I had the passion to do something of this sort for my career. One of the traits I have that I am most proud of is hardworking. I have strongly focused on academics during high school. I have an unweighted GPA of 3.67. I will be going into college with 34 credits already under my belt. I have achieved this within the past two years. Last year, I took two English courses through the University of Texas at Austin with their OnRamps program. This year, I have taken 7 dual credit college courses through my local community college. In order for me to accomplish this, I had to put in a lot of hard work. I've sacrificed different activities so I can have enough time for my school work. Not only did I have my school work to worry about, but I also work 20-40 hours a week, teach Sunday school at my church, and had my semester-long teaching internship. After school, my second biggest priority is work. I push myself to my limit when I am working. I have learned time management and the importance of saving your money through this process. The biggest hurdle I had to go through in the past year is teaching myself at home. Although my courses are technically dual credit, there is no high school teacher. I am also a virtual student so I have to figure everything out myself via my computer at home. Having to teach myself all of this content has made me be more independent and responsible. This will also improve my future teaching career. Because of my hard work, I will be going into college as a sophomore and will graduate in 3 years. This is very important to me because it will save me a lot of money and time. I believe this makes me unique and shows how much I have achieved during my high school career.

This past year was nothing but normal. In March 2020, my high school experience completely changed. We had to stay home and do online school because of the COVID 19 pandemic. I was a junior at the time. When you're a high school junior, you are expected to be touring and planning where you are going to college. I did not have this opportunity. Thankfully right before the pandemic hit, I toured two universities. One of which I thought was alright, but the second school I went to I instantly fell in love. It wasn't what I pictured in my head all of my short 17 years of life as my future college, but I became obsessed with the idea of going there. It was absolutely perfect. I envisioned myself walking down the sidewalks, having movie nights in the dorm with my roommate, and potentially even sitting behind my future husband on the first day of class (ring by spring). It even had my exact major, Elementary Special Education. Only one thing stood in my way. The cost. The very, very high cost. Of course, my new dream school that I was head over heels for was an insanely expensive private school. I guess I'm just fancy like that. My mom had told me “don’t get your hopes up”, which I knew. I put it into my head that this was just an unrealistic dream and I wouldn’t be able to make it happen. I would look on social media and see all of the students that attend my dream school and became envious. I knew the only thing I could do at this point was pray. Pray to get a generous scholarship so I could afford to go to the one place I feel would make me happy for the next four years of my life. Come senior year, I was still doing online school. I started looking into other schools to attend. None of them fit my expectations. The charts had already been topped. It felt pointless and dumb to apply to other schools. But I had to. Just in case. I needed all the backups I could get. Acceptances started rolling in and scholarships too. One day, I had gotten an email. After months of anticipation, I had finally been accepted to my dream school. I was ecstatic! My favorite part of the days were 10:00 am. This is when the mail truck would roll through my neighborhood and deliver all the packages. Every day was another day of me patiently waiting to find out if I had gotten a good scholarship. A couple of weeks after being accepted, I finally got a letter in the mail. I opened it up and saw the amount. $17,000. Almost the exact amount I needed to go. I almost cried from excitement. A few more months pass and I get another email. It's a special invitation to apply for an increase in my scholarship up to full tuition. It is exactly what I needed. I applied and then had more waiting to do. Every day I waited for some sort of news about my updated amount. Eventually, I got a call from my enrollment counselor. I was busy at the time however and we ended up playing phone tag and I didn’t get a hold of her that night. I was so frustrated. I had already waited for so long and now I'd just have to wait longer. The wait was killing me. It wasn’t until the next night when she finally called me back. I was sitting in the corner of my mom’s closet when I learned that I got a $3,000 increase in my scholarship, equaling $20,000 a year. The exact amount I was going for. I believe this is my greatest achievement to date. After getting my scholarship, I understood that all of my hard work paid off. I am now able to attend my dream school and even graduate a year early. I now understand the power of prayer and that nothing is impossible when I work for it. I hope to eventually go back to school to get my master's degree. I am so excited to learn and grow at college. I believe that my work ethic has been very strong this past year and is evident in this achievement.

One teacher that helped me pursue higher education is my mom. I hope to become an elementary special education teacher. I have learned so much from my mom about my future career plans and just life in general. She pushes me every day to grow for the better. Because of my mom, I am hardworking, resilient, self-motivated, determined, and kind-hearted. I have been influenced and inspired by my family of teachers, especially my mom. Before I was ever born, my mom has been a teacher. I have watched her educate and impact hundreds of children. She has three education degrees and 24 years of teaching experience. When we lived in a small village in Alaska called Fort Yukon, she was one of the few teachers in a kindergarten through 12th-grade school. She taught third grade for several years, including when I was in third grade. She is currently a professor at Texas Christian University. I truly realized my passion for teaching and special education during my sophomore year of high school. I needed a PE credit at my school, but I do not enjoy the intense physical activity so I was looking for something milder. To my surprise, I found a class that wasn’t even on the course selection guide called Partners in PE. This class works with the special education students at my high school and you become their partners in PE class. I was so excited I found this class because it sounded much more up my alley. I ended up taking this class and falling in love with it. Being mentors to kids with disabilities made me realize I had the passion to do something of this sort for my career. My mom strongly pushed and encouraged me throughout this time in my life to go after this idea. I know because of my mom and aunts how hard teachers work with the little amount of pay to compensate. Of course, no teacher goes into the career for money or fame. I believe you have to have a certain passion and heart to want to go into education. I know it won't be easy, but I can see myself doing it for the rest of my life. I am so excited to start college and start learning and growing in this field. I love seeing growth in others and being the one to plant the seed would be a great feeling. I hope to eventually get a master's degree to further my education and improve my teaching skills. In my classroom, I want all of my students to feel loved and important. I know not everyone comes from the greatest home life so I hope that for the slim part of their lives they are in my class, they feel welcomed and appreciated. This is my dream.

My name is Rachel Pettet and I will be attending Oral Roberts University in Fall 2021 to major in Elementary Special Education. I hope to become an elementary special education teacher. I have been influenced and inspired by my family of teachers. I know because of my mom and aunts how hard teachers work with the little amount of pay to compensate. Of course, no teacher goes into the career for money or fame. I believe you have to have a certain passion and heart to want to go into education. I know it won't be easy, but I can see myself doing it for the rest of my life. I am so excited to start college and start learning and growing in this field. I love seeing growth in others and being the one to plant the seed would be a great feeling. I hope to eventually get a master's degree to further my education and improve my teaching skills. In my classroom, I want all of my students to feel loved and important. I know not everyone comes from the greatest home life so I hope that for the slim part of their lives they are in my class, they feel welcomed and appreciated. The thing that excites me most is the power of prayer. I fell in love with a college last year. It wasn't what I expected, but I felt called by God to go. Of course, my new dream school that I was head over heels for was an insanely expensive private Christian school. I guess I'm just fancy like that. My mom had told me “don’t get your hopes up”, which I knew. I put it into my head that this was just an unrealistic dream and I wouldn’t be able to make it happen. I would look on social media and see all of the students that attend my dream school and became envious. I knew the only thing I could do at this point was pray. Pray to get a generous scholarship so I could afford to go to the one place I feel would make me happy for the next four years of my life. Come senior year, I was still doing online school. I started looking into other schools to attend. None of them fit my expectations. The charts had already been topped. It felt pointless and dumb to apply to other schools. But I had to. Just in case. I needed all the backups I could get. Acceptances started rolling in and scholarships too. One day, I had gotten an email. After months of anticipation, I had finally been accepted to my dream school. I was ecstatic! My favorite part of the days were 10:00 am. This is when the mail truck would roll through my neighborhood and deliver all the packages. Every day was another day of me patiently awaiting to find out if I had gotten a good scholarship. A couple of weeks after being accepted, I finally got a letter in the mail. I opened it up and saw the amount. $17,000. Almost the exact amount I needed to go. I almost cried from excitement. A few more months pass and I get another email. It's a special invitation to apply for an increase in my scholarship up to full tuition. It is exactly what I needed. I applied and then had more waiting to do. Every day I waited for some sort of news about my updated amount. Eventually, I got a call from my enrollment counselor. I was busy at the time however and we ended up playing phone tag and I didn’t get a hold of her that night. I was so frustrated. I had already waited for so long and now I'd just have to wait longer. The wait was killing me. It wasn’t until the next night when she finally called me back. I was sitting in the corner of my mom's closet when I learned that I got a $3,000 increase in my scholarship, equaling $20,000 a year. The exact amount I was going for. At this moment I understood that my hard work paid off. My prayers were answered and I would be able to attend my dream school. I now understand the power of prayer and that nothing is impossible when you work for it.

This past year was nothing but normal. In March 2020, my high school experience completely changed. We had to stay home and do online school because of the COVID 19 pandemic. I was a junior at the time. When you're a high school junior, you are expected to be touring and planning where you are going to college. I did not have this opportunity. Thankfully right before the pandemic hit, I toured two universities. One of which I thought was alright, but the second school I went to I instantly fell in love. It wasn't what I pictured in my head all of my short 17 years of life as my future college, but I became obsessed with the idea of going there. It was absolutely perfect. I envisioned myself walking down the sidewalks, having movie nights in the dorm with my roommate, and potentially even sitting behind my future husband on the first day of class (ring by spring). Only one thing stood in my way. The cost. The very, very high cost. Of course, my new dream school that I was head over heels for was an insanely expensive private school. I guess I'm just fancy like that. My mom had told me “don’t get your hopes up”, which I knew. I put it into my head that this was just an unrealistic dream and I wouldn’t be able to make it happen. I would look on social media and see all of the students that attend my dream school and became envious. I knew the only thing I could do at this point was pray. Pray to get a generous scholarship so I could afford to go to the one place I feel would make me happy for the next four years of my life. Come senior year, I was still doing online school. I started looking into other schools to attend. None of them fit my expectations. The charts had already been topped. It felt pointless and dumb to apply to other schools. But I had to. Just in case. I needed all the backups I could get. Acceptances started rolling in and scholarships too. One day, I had gotten an email. After months of anticipation, I had finally been accepted to my dream school. I was ecstatic! My favorite part of the days were 10:00 am. This is when the mail truck would roll through my neighborhood and deliver all the packages. Every day was another day of me patiently awaiting to find out if I had gotten a good scholarship. A couple of weeks after being accepted, I finally got a letter in the mail. I opened it up and saw the amount. $17,000. Almost the exact amount I needed to go. I almost cried from excitement. A few more months pass and I get another email. It's a special invitation to apply for an increase in my scholarship up to full tuition. It is exactly what I needed. I applied and then had more waiting to do. Every day I waited for some sort of news about my updated amount. Eventually, I got a call from my enrollment counselor. I was busy at the time however and we ended up playing phone tag and I didn’t get a hold of her that night. I was so frustrated. I had already waited for so long and now I'd just have to wait longer. The wait was killing me. It wasn’t until the next night when she finally called me back. I was sitting in the corner of my mom's closet when I learned that I got a $3,000 increase in my scholarship, equaling $20,000 a year. The exact amount I was going for. At this moment I understood that my hard work paid off. My prayers were answered and I would be able to attend my dream school. I now understand the power of prayer and that nothing is impossible when you work for it.

I have put my full trust in Jesus all of my life, but especially in recent times. Last year, I fell in love with a college and had in my heart that I needed to go there. It wasn't exactly what I always pictured my college would look like, but I felt almost called by God to go there. My mom felt it too. Looking at the price point for the college I came to the conclusion that it was just not going to work out. I had in the back of my head that this was the only place I felt like I belonged and would truly love attending, but I was starting to give up so I wouldn't get my hopes up. I applied to over 20 schools. None of which I wanted to attend, but I knew I needed as many backups as I could get. The day I got accepted was a very exciting day for me, but of course, the issue wasn't getting accepted. Then the anticipated day finally came where I got my letter in the mail that contained my scholarship amount. I cried tears of joy when I saw it because I realized there was a high chance I could go. A while later, I got an invitation to do an online timed essay for a potential increase in my scholarship. I knew I needed to put my whole heart into this. I was very anxious and ended up taking it in the spur of the moment in my living room. A couple of months later, I received a phone call from my admissions counselor. I had a $3,000 increase in my scholarship, making my scholarship now $20,000 a year. I couldn't believe it. All of my hard work, tears, prayers, and wishing all worked out. Jesus had my back the whole time and it wouldn't have happened if I didn't put my full trust in him. Now I will be attending my dream school in the Fall and I know that my faith in Him pulled me through and I will forever be grateful.

The biggest role model in my life is my mom. She has completely shaped me into the person I am today. Because of her, I am determined, compassionate, and kindhearted. She has taught me everything I know and I have grown so much because of her. I would be a complete different person (most likely for the worst) if I didn't have her. The biggest compliment I could ever receive is someone seeing the reflection of her in me. I hope to become an elementary special education teacher. I have been influenced and inspired by my family of teachers, especially my mom. Before I was ever born, my mom has been a teacher. I have watched her educate and impact hundreds of children. She has three education degrees and 24 years of teaching experience. I definitely fell in love with this career because of my mom. I know because of my mom and aunts how hard teachers work with the little amount of pay to compensate. Of course, no teacher goes into the career for money or fame. I believe you have to have a certain passion and heart to want to go into education. I know it won't be easy, but I can see myself doing it for the rest of my life. I am so excited to start college and start learning and growing in this field. I love seeing growth in others and being the one to plant the seed would be a great feeling. In my classroom, I want all of my students to feel loved and important. I know not everyone comes from the greatest home life so I hope that for the slim part of their lives they are in my class, they feel welcomed and appreciated.

I can relate to Brynn Elliott saying that "women in my life have inspired and encouraged me to do that to which I am called". The woman that inspires me the most is my mom. She has completely shaped me into the person I am today. Because of her, I am determined, compassionate, and kindhearted. She has taught me everything I know and I have grown so much because of her. I would be a complete different person (most likely for the worst) if I didn't have her. The biggest compliment I could ever receive is someone seeing the reflection of her in me. I hope to become an elementary special education teacher. I have been influenced and inspired by my family of teachers, especially my mom. Before I was ever born, my mom has been a teacher. I have watched her educate and impact hundreds of children. She has three education degrees and 24 years of teaching experience. I definitely fell in love with this career because of my mom. I know because of my mom and aunts how hard teachers work with the little amount of pay to compensate. Of course, no teacher goes into the career for money or fame. I believe you have to have a certain passion and heart to want to go into education. I know it won't be easy, but I can see myself doing it for the rest of my life. I am so excited to start college and start learning and growing in this field. I love seeing growth in others and being the one to plant the seed would be a great feeling. In my classroom, I want all of my students to feel loved and important. I know not everyone comes from the greatest home life so I hope that for the slim part of their lives they are in my class, they feel welcomed and appreciated.

My plan for the future is to become an elementary special education teacher. I may eventually return to get my master's degree. I hope to teach in a title one school for at least five years so I can get some student loan forgiveness. This scholarship would greatly help me. My financial hardships are that my parents have had many medical and hospital bills within the past couple of years from some of my sister’s health issues. My sister will be in college next year at the same time as me. My mom has also been working on her doctorate degree and should be completed by next year, she is also paying tuition. She has also helped me pay for my dual credit courses and textbooks, unfortunately, there is no financial aid for these courses so it is all out of pocket. I would like to graduate with little to no debt, so this scholarship would be very helpful and I feel that I am well deserved. Teachers are very underpaid so receiving this scholarship would help me lower my student loan debt. This would also help ensure that I have more money saved for my future classroom. Throughout my high school career, I was very involved with fine arts and the CTE (career, technology, education) courses offered at my school. I was in choir my freshman year, in theatre freshman, and sophomore year. My choir class freshman year was the first of that group to advance to UIL and we won the Sweepstakes award, meaning a perfect score on our sight-reading and performance. My sophomore year I was part of an advanced audition theatre class focused on performance acting. During my junior year, I took a commercial photography class. I also took interior design during my sophomore year. I became a member of the National Technical Honor Society in April 2019. This year I became a member of our PTSA. During the fall semester of my senior year, I took part in a virtual teaching internship at a local elementary school. During this internship, I lead small groups of kindergarten and fourth-grade students during their reading and math. This was through an advanced internship class offered through my school. I have an unweighted GPA of 3.67. In order for me to accomplish this, I had to put in a lot of hard work. I've sacrificed different activities so I can have enough time for my school work. Not only did I have my school work to worry about, but I also work part-time, teach Sunday school at my church, and had my semester-long internship. I have learned time management and the importance of saving your money through this process. The biggest hurdle I had to go through is that I am teaching myself at home. Although my courses are technically dual credit, there is no high school teacher. I am also a virtual student so I have to figure everything out myself via my computer at home. Having to teach myself all of this content has made me be more independent and responsible. This will also improve my future teaching career. Because of my hard work, I will be going into college as a sophomore and will graduate in 3 years. This makes my situation more unique than most of my peers. I believe I have achieved so much during my high school career and would make a great candidate for this scholarship.