“If we never disagreed, the Earth would still be flat” is something my Aunt Dawn always said. She always had a love for debate, or as she liked to call it, civil discourse. She inspired me to join the debate team and inspired me to pursue further education after high school. She enjoyed school and learning, but college just wasn’t an option for her. She stepped in to help her single mother take care of her six younger siblings, and on top of work, she didn’t have enough time to pursue a degree. Because of her circumstances, she greatly encouraged all of her nieces and nephews to appreciate school, get good grades, and go to college. She wanted all of us to have a better life with more opportunities. She instilled my love of learning as early as possible. She tried to get me to start reading at three years old, taught me multiplication in 1st grade, and taught me about evolution theory in 3rd grade. Most importantly, throughout my entire life, she taught me to have opinions about things and voice them without fear. She wanted me to research topics, look for the facts, and use those facts to form a sound opinion. She didn’t want me to blindly listen to what adults and the news say just because we were taught to trust them, without anything to back up their claims. She also wanted me to be able to voice my opinions without fear. I’m naturally a quieter person who doesn’t like conflict, so being confident in voicing my opinions, especially when I started debate in middle school, was a challenge for me. I didn’t like how my arguments were rebutted all the time because I didn’t want to look like I didn’t know what I was talking about. When I would talk to my Aunt Dawn about my lack of confidence, she would say, “You’re looking at it wrong. It’s a blessing to have your opinions rebutted. If someone fails to rebut it, you know it is sound. If someone succeeds in rebutting it, it’s an opportunity to learn and change your opinion for the better”. Sadly, my Aunt Dawn passed away from breast cancer when I was 14, but her impact on me never faded. She inspired me to go to pursue a college degree. I am a freshman at Mott Community College and am excelling in all of my classes. I’m planning on getting a degree in advertising or marketing. With my degree, I want to inform and persuade people to make decisions that are better for themselves and the world. I want to enlighten people about things they didn’t even know about and convince them to form their opinions based on facts. It is becoming more common to blindly listen to what you want to hear and just ignore everything else. This isn’t good for our future, and I want to change that. I want to make the world a better place, and with my Aunt Dawn’s impact on my life, I know I can.

When I was in 7th grade, I volunteered for the very first time at a clothing drive. I remember walking in with my mom and seeing a long line of people waiting for the clothes they needed for the upcoming winter. My job was to hand the prepared clothing packages to the community. Every time I gave a package to someone, I saw someone who was struggling in some way. I saw single mothers coming in with many young children following her. I saw elderly people all alone with no one to support them. I saw homeless people with everything they owned on their backs. I saw kids my age, and I realized that I could easily be in the same position. Even at this young age, I felt good helping my community and releasing the worry of having enough warm clothes to make it through winter. Ever since that day, I started volunteering regularly throughout my teen years. Even with my busy schedule with work and school, I still volunteer whenever I have the opportunity. Just like Kalia, I also ran cross country and track in high school, kept high grades, and had many positive relationships with my peers. I am now a freshman in college, successfully keeping a 4.0, and am going to pursue a degree in advertising or marketing. To put it simply, with my degree, I want to make people’s lives better. I want to inform and persuade people to make a choice that will improve their lives and others. I want to help people become the best versions of themselves and push them to help others do the same. I want to make the world a happier, healthier, and safer place. When my actions positively affect people, it makes me feel good and motivates me to continue doing those actions. I know this scholarship will help me tremendously. I am transferring from Mott Community College to Michigan State University in the fall because they have a highly ranked advertising program. I am a very ambitious, driven student who takes great pride in my work ethic, so I’m confident I’ll be successful when transitioning schools. The only problem I run into is tuition. The cost of one year at MSU is $35,588, which isn’t feasible for me. I pay for tuition all by myself. I have been working my part-time retail job as much as I can to save some money, but I still have a long way to go. Kalia’s Scholarship will support me while I receive the education I need to make my dream of making a positive impact on the world come true.

There have been many times in my life when I’ve asked myself, “Why do we exist?” I never realized this question was the whole idea of Existentialism until my high school philosophy class. Right away, I took an interest in Existentialism, and eventually took an interest in the “Father of Existentialism” himself, Søren Kierkegaard. In his book, Philosophical Fragments, Kierkegaard writes, “When the seed of the oak is planted in earthen vessels, they break asunder; when new wine is poured in old leather bottles, they burst.” There is a deep underlying meaning and symbolism in this short passage. Subtracting the symbolism and metaphors from the text, what is left is, “Humans don’t have the capacity to fully understand divine power.” To fully understand the meaning behind this, it is important to look at Kierkegaard’s background. He was the son of a Lutheran Protestant Priest and, therefore, grew up very religious. He grew up to believe that your relationship with God is above all. As he got older, he still was very religious, but he rejected the church. He believed that churches were corrupt institutions that valued money and power over spreading the word of God. He believed that faith was a personal, irrational commitment to God, and you have to put your trust into the teachings of God, even if you don’t fully understand his existence. He is famously known as the “Father of Existentialism”, which to put simply, is a philosophical movement that focuses on the purpose and meaning behind human existence. Knowing his religious background and specific focus on philosophy makes it easier for us to uncover the symbolism in his passage. The first half of the passage is, “When the seed of the oak is planted in earthen vessels, they break asunder.” This “seed of the oak” is the seed of an oak tree. Oak trees symbolize God and his divine power. Oak is the oldest and one of the strongest tree species on Earth, and God is commonly thought of to have been around since the beginning of time and is all knowing. “Earthen vessels” symbolize humans because our bodies are vessels for our minds and consciousness that live on Earth. “Break asunder” means to break into pieces. When something is broken into pieces, it can’t hold anything in it or keep substances contained. So, when placed all together, what Kierkegaard is literally saying is that when divine power is put into humans, they can’t understand it fully. In the second half, “when new wine is poured in old leather bottles, they burst,” Kierkegaard is trying to prove the same argument as the first half of the passage. For Christians, “New wine” symbolizes God’s power. It was continuously mentioned in the Old Testament of the Bible that God blessed humans with food and good health. “Old leather bottles” symbolizes the minds and the capability to understand in humans. In biblical times, people stored their wine in leather bottles to ferment, but if the leather was too old and worn, it would leak and fall apart. What Kierkegaard is literally saying, once again, is when divine power is put into humans, they can’t understand it fully. He is trying to prove to people that it is impossible for humans to fully grasp the idea of God’s existence and his divine power. He wanted to convince others, especially non-believers, of God and that even though no one can prove the existence of God, he and his divine power are real. Humans just don’t have the capability to fully comprehend God’s existence. He explains why believers, including himself, put their full faith and trust into a being that they’ve never actually seen or experienced. It’s completely understandable why Kierkegaard wrote this. He grew up in a Lutheran Protestant family and continued to follow that specific faith for the rest of his life. As a philosopher, he almost exclusively wrote texts related to religion and faith. Lutheran Protestants believe that people can achieve salvation through their faith alone and reject the idea that institutions and people in religious power, like the Pope, carry the same weight as the direct teachings of God in the Bible. Even though he entirely rejected the idea of churches, and instead thought that having a personal relationship with God was how people made it to salvation, he also believed that not believing in God and his teachings was just as bad. Lutherans do believe in heaven and hell, and Kierkegaard wanted to save people from what he thought was the fate of non-believers.

Just like Angelia, I have a passion for reading and a deep understanding of the crucial value it holds. I want to incorporate it into my future career. It has indirectly influenced me to pursue a degree in advertising. I thought I had asthma my entire life. I had an inhaler with me every second of the day. I never thought that my condition could be anything else until I saw a video on Instagram listing a bunch of symptoms, and I related to every single one: easily fatigued, shortness of breath, etc. I was confident that the video would say these were asthma symptoms, but to my surprise, they weren’t. They were symptoms of anemia. I immediately wanted to know more, so I dived into a whirlwind of health websites. After much research, I was certain I had a misdiagnosis. I went to the doctor and I was correct. After I was correctly diagnosed with anemia, I was a completely different person. My energy levels tripled and I gained color back that I didn’t even know I had. This experience influenced me to get a degree in advertising and eventually become an advertising manager. With my job, I want to inform and persuade people ethically, through what they read, just like that video did for me. I want to enlighten people about things they didn’t even know about. I want to help people become the best versions of themselves. An advertising degree will give me the qualifications to be in charge of advertising campaigns that are moving and influential. I know this scholarship will help me tremendously. I am transferring to Michigan State University in the fall because they have a highly ranked advertising program. I am a very ambitious, driven student who takes great pride in my work ethic. The only problem I run into is tuition. The cost of one year at MSU is $35,588. That isn’t feasible for me because I pay for my tuition all by myself. College book prices are expensive and having the money to pay for them will lift a heavy weight off my shoulders. I am very passionate about making a positive and impactful difference in the world and having the funds for my books will help me do that.