As a young kid from a small town in Texas, I always knew that education was my way out of my current circumstances. I have always been an academically driven individual and have strived to be at the top of my class. As such, I dedicated much of my time and energy to my studies and extracurricular activities. At the University of Texas at Austin, I'm studying finance and computer science. I chose these fields of study because I believe that these two subjects are becoming increasingly important in today's society and with the rapid advancement of technology and the growing complexity of financial markets, I believe that a solid understanding of both areas will be critical in achieving success in the business world. Beginning my postgraduate life, I will be at an investment bank and I hope to thrive there as well. I'm excited about the opportunity to gain valuable experience in the finance industry and continue to learn and grow in my field. I also hope to truly enjoy my job and find fulfillment in the work that I do. As I continue to gain experience and expertise, moving up the corporate ladder and taking on greater responsibilities within the organization will be my next initiatives and doing the best I can to prepare my stability for my potential wife and children in the future. Apart from my academic pursuits, I've also been actively involved in my community. I am a mentor to underprivileged students, along with just business interested students helping them to navigate their way through the educational system and reach their full potential. I also co-founded an investment group with some of my peers, which has allowed us to gain valuable experience in financial management and investment analysis, and a lot of my mentees have either come from that group or they decided to join after hearing about it. Teaching and knowledge are huge for me so the more I can help others and provide knowledge or information they may not have known was there, the better service I feel like I am providing to people who need it. My biggest accomplishments naturally tie into this. Maintaining a high GPA, doing well in school, and persevering through college despite hardships have been huge, but the potential impact we could have on others every day if we just put good into the world will always triumph over everything, and that's what I pride myself on. If I were to receive a scholarship that would help me pay down my student loans, I would be eternally grateful. I have worked hard to earn my degree, but the financial burden of student loans has been a source of stress and anxiety for me and a headache I hope can be eased sooner rather than later. Reducing my debt would allow me to have more financial freedom and flexibility, which would be invaluable as I work towards achieving my goals as I know this is an obstacle for many people in the plans they have for themselves. I'm a driven and motivated individual who is passionate about education and community involvement. I have worked hard to achieve academic success while also being involved in a range of extracurricular activities. Although exhausting and overwhelming in many instances, this has led me to receive my diploma and walk the graduation stage in less than two months. I know my parents would be ecstatic if they were here to see it, so I hope to embody all of our excitement and be proud of myself in the same way that they would.

Time management is a skill that's essential to being able to navigate college as a low income student. Knowing this, I have to set several reminders and utilize my time the best I can to complete all the things that I have to do. There's internship work, study hours, naps, actual work assignments (not included in studying), taking care and checking in with family to make sure everything is alright, sending money to family members (while also trying to manage my own finances), working out and staying healthy, all while trying to be a young adult, have fun, and enjoy the very short lived college experience. As you read the list of time commitments and responsibilities I have, it's safe to say busy is an understatement but the way you approach all things in life is key. One of the many leadership experiences I have has to do with an investing group I founded, managing a cohort of students, and sharing tips and resources on financial literacy. I am also involved in a Black Males Organization where we go on retreats to different colleges, high schools, and surround ourselves with other black men who may feel like outcasts at their university and if not, we're just fellow black men they can connect with. Along with those, I have an executive role in an engineering org all while having a course load of of upper division finance and computer science classes and rigorous interview prepping for a full-time role next year. I've always been an academic guy first, so whenever it comes to prioritization I try to get my homework done first. I also try to dedicate days of the week for certain activities -- so on MWFSun, I try to focus on actual homework and staying comfortably ahead week in to week out. On TTHSat, I try to make time for raw studying and extracurriculars like working out, flag football, and socializing. Doing this offers a good level of balance during the week, and a lot of times I finish my homework all in one or two days, since it's more of a focused approach and not scattered and random. So sometimes I finish with ample time and that extra time is used to work for an internship during the week. This is all definitely a lot, but when put in certain situations oftentimes you have to do what you have to do and have a lot of discipline that you carry with you. All in all, low income students cannot afford to "chill" and be as carefree financially as some students can who have their parents or guardians to support them financially but I think the fact that we don't have that gives us the drive to juggle as many things as we do. Tough is an understatement, but I look at it as character development and hopefully prepping for a time in the future where we're able to manage things comfortably without something as stressful as finances being a crutch.

I have a lot of qualities/characteristics I value about myself whether it be my confidence, being understanding of others and their situations, treating people how I'd like to be treated, being supportive, etc -- but I think the ones I resonate with the most has to be my my persistence as I've used that constantly throughout my lifetime. I've never really allowed myself to have too low of lows or too high of highs, and if I did I was able to "check myself" rather quickly. Persistence really has kept me grounded and shown me that no one occurrence in your life should dictate how you feel beyond a reasonable period of time. This has especially been true during times of rejection like with job applications, achieving less than your goal on an exam, or maybe feeling like you never receive the same love you exuberate. Usually, when I apply to a job and get a rejection I'm upset for a few seconds and then delete the email. This is a short-term memory tactic I use, that I learned in football. In football, or really in any sport, to really excel you have to have a short-term memory when things don't go as planned. You can't go into the next play or sequence thinking about what went wrong previously, and that's sort of the same sentiment I take with me into everything else. There's also an "out of sight, out of mind" perspective that I hone in on as well. A rejection letter is no use to me, so just like spam or junk email I see no point in keeping it in my inbox. This quality has and will continue to help me in my life journey because it indicates strength, will power, and knowing oftentimes failure steers you in a better direction. It also keeps me productive and actively building towards something. No rejection will ever make me feel like I'm incompetent or unworthy, whether it's with a company or another human being. No one can make me feel bad about who I am as a person, because I know myself better than anyone and I think that should hold true for everyone. If you're a bad person and someone calls you out on being a bad person, that's one thing. But if you're a good person, like I and most people hope they're perceived as, and someone calls me a bad person or tries to call me things or names I know I'm not -- I'm unbothered by it. Having this perseverance and simply knowing your self worth and value tends to direct you through the biggest obstacles in life, and continuing to keep this by my side will hopefully allow this for a very long time.

I'd say I've overcome many hardships up to this point in my life. My mother passed when I was in fourth grade, leaving our household to just my father and I. Towards the end of my high school experience, the second semester into my junior year, my father's health issues really started becoming more prevalent and hindering my father. All in all, he was admitted into a nursing home and I finished out high school living alone and completely supporting myself. Initially, when you think of a high school student raising themselves I'm sure the financial burden of it all first comes to mind -- you wonder how they are even surviving, right? Although that's true and I faced financial burden like no other, there was a huge mental and emotional block I was battling with as well. I was battling academic stress, physical fatigue as I played three sports, and just feeling sad and truly alone. The two people I loved the most in this world were unable to be there for me physically and I couldn't communicate with my father like I would've liked because of his health issues. Imagine being a 16/17 year old high school student and coming home to an absolutely empty household with no one to talk to or just a loved one there that you have the satisfaction of seeing. That was the harsh reality and I remember the times I'd cry myself to sleep because even at that age I felt like this was apart of the "realness" of life, that no one should have to experience. To consistently progress and be successful in life, I had no choice but to persevere. There was simply no safety net or anyone to fall back on if things didn't work out like I wanted. This meant SAT/ACT preparation that wasn't provided through my school, general college readiness, acquiring scholarships, applying to colleges, working to support myself -- all this taken into my own hands while still trying to just be a high school student and spend times with my friends. I still remember to this day, and will remember for the rest of my life, when I received my acceptance letter into The University of Texas at Austin and the McCombs School of Business. I was in my room by myself when I viewed it on my phone and then proceeded to do a little happy dance. This was one of the first times in my life where I felt like I truly accomplished something grand. I had received academic awards, athletic achievements, and been a stellar student but I finally felt like this was something I'd consider as noteworthy. College is important to me, because it really began a new chapter in my life and confirmed to me that circumstances can change very quickly and put you in a way better position. Recently, I've founded an investing group here at university where I teach a cohort of students what I've learned regarding financial literacy and we all have thorough conversations about it educating one another. I hope to continue to expand this and my tutoring service to my community in the long run, providing students from similar backgrounds as mine with knowledge, tips, and advice I wouldn't have known at their age. As someone who turned nothing into something and is still trying to accomplish and learn all that I can, the least I can do is pass on that knowledge and keep it revolving for the generations to come.

I think one big problem facing the world at the moment is feeling like there should be a rush and urgency in whatever we are doing. Whether that's finding our dream job, reaching a financial goal, buying a big house, etc -- we always feel as if we have to sprint or compare ourselves to those around us and even people who aren't in our vicinity. This creates a very unhealthy and competitive environment, that tends to be harder to enjoy and thrive in. Our happiness and fulfillment in life should not be dependent on materialistic goals and items, but on who we surround ourselves with and what makes us wake up every morning. This is not to say a nice car or a big house should not be chased after, but it should not be made an overwhelming priority or something that your day to day focus is dependent on. Working on this problem would consist of everyone putting less of an emphasis on being "the best." You can want the most for yourself and thrive without naturally comparing yourself to others. Ironically enough, the happiest people I've seen that are good at what they do don't tend to refer to themselves as the best. They are less worried about where others are in relation to them and just focus on excelling at what they do. They understand life is a marathon, and know they should enjoy things along the way. All in all, we should try to be more inclusive and understand the time of your destination, wherever it may be, is less important than your actual arrival. Once you are confident you will reach your destination, when you'll get there becomes less emphasized.

1. Community is a huge part of my life as that is where it all started for me, and the relationships I made in those groups will stick with me for the rest of my life. When I think of community, I think of my roots and essentially where the beginning of my life began. There was always be a close attachment and strong tie to this community, as this was all I knew before I moved to Austin following high school. I had been in the same area, in the same tiny town, since I was born. The people I met in kindergarten were the very people I walked the stage with for our senior year graduation, it's almost impossible not to feel something for these people. You have watched each other grow up since you can remember, so community will always hold a special place in my life -- and it means more to me than I can verbalize. Because of this, I started my own tutoring service in high school as I was experiencing the injustices and hardships people in my community and area face, including myself. Financials, budgeting, credit, future planning were topics I was not taught in my household growing up and that was and still is very similar to many others where I come from. Knowing this, I teach them what I have learned here at university from my experiences, internships, and coursework hoping to make an impact in as many lives as I can. 2. My vision for the future entails continuing my tutoring service, providing more resources to people who need them, and helping others as much as I can while I continue to advance my career. I currently do not have the means to improve my business and open other avenues that will be supplemental to students or anyone that sees fit, but I hope I am in a position to do that soon. I am a driven person and try to put a smile on someone's face always. I find happiness in the ones around me being excited, motivated, and genuinely ecstatic -- so whatever I can do to bring that to them I will try my best to make happen. I was not provided great resources growing up, people to pave the way for me, and help me with the necessities so I hope to provide for the ones who lack it now. Everyone should have a fair opportunity at a great education, and know that they don't have to settle for their conditions. Turning something into nothing feels really good, and the more people want to help the each the higher education foundations will be. Community showed me the power of unity, so it is only right that I continue what I was shown and reciprocate it to them along with expanding my learnings and teachings to other people and communities.

I'd say the most helpful piece of financial advice I've received is investing as much as you can, as early as you can, as regularly as you can. People think of investing and assume you must be a financial guru or someone who is very tactical and knowledgeable in the stock market. The more you know the better, of course, but being an expert is not needed by any means. As long as people are willing to allocate some of their money, assuming their necessities are being met, there is essentially a worry-free and simple way of making yourself more money without thinking about it. I also used to think my checking account was the best place to store my money, but I know that it is better off being put to use in an investment account. Even savings accounts these days offer very low rates, they are hardly any better off than keeping it in a 0% interest checkings -- so I just feel that regularly adding to your investment accounts throughout your adulthood has the best chance of granting you financial freedom. Getting started saving and investing as soon as you can is ideal. Of course this a not a viable option for everyone, but post grads should have their minds towards their future. Unfortunately, I currently don't have a lot of funds to throw around a bit and invest -- but I am doing my best to become as knowledgeable as I can with financials so when I do have the means I can take action immediately.

I come from a low income, near poverty line family -- which is interesting because my mom and dad always made sure I was taken care of as a child. In some ways, you could even say I was spoiled. They did everything within their power to make sure I was never in absolute need of anything, which I guess they felt was a necessity since I was an only child. Because of their many, many, sacrifices I was able to have a very enjoyable childhood and I am eternally grateful for that. Unfortunately, in 2009, about 4 days before my birthday -- my mother passed due to a failed heart transplant. I remember my whole world stopping and how devastated I was when my father broke the news to me as I got off the bus and walked in our home from school. Many may think a 9 year old may not be insanely affected due to the lack of emotional and mental maturity, but to this day I don't believe I have ever felt anything so deeply. That pain still resonates with me and the exact scenario and visual I was in, is still clear as ever in my head. From that day, my energetic demeanor and innocence that I once had was inevitably gone and I turned into a major introvert and just a person who kept to themselves. I am gradually feeling myself grow out of this since I've been in college, but I still have my moments where those traits are heavily emphasized. Continuing through the rest of elementary, middle school, and the majority of high school, it was just my dad and I. And of course, just like it was with my mother, he did whatever he could to provide me with what I needed. He would make it clear to me when he could not do something, and when he did that I knew most of the times it was out of his control. My father was not a rich man or well off by any means, and I wasn't really aware of that until towards the end of my time with him. The fact that I wasn't aware of this, should show you how well he cared for me and also have naive I was and just didn't really understand that money did not grow on trees. Although my dad was a trooper and extremely strong mentally and physically, he was an older man. Consequently, in the midst of my second semester junior year in high school he was admitted into a nursing home and began to develop a severe stage of dementia. My survival from that point on was entirely up to me. I begin living in our home by myself, and was never the closest with people outside of my immediate family, which was just my mother and father to clarify. Because of this, I denied any requests others made inviting me to stay with them. It was a very tough, immediate transition that I had to make to survive and I didn't have very much room for error. Onwards -- I started doing SAT/ACT prep, studied constantly, applied for scholarship after scholarship, and did whatever I could to put myself in the best position to attend college. That was always my goal and I remember telling my dad I would, so I had to keep my word for him and for myself. I decided to do all of this because I did not want to be defined and equated to my situation, and they were my initial desires so they were not going to be halted. My situation was not who I was and I was not my situation, so I wanted to make that known and show that just because unfortunate things have happened to me does not mean I would become of victim or a byproduct of those happenings. During all this, I was working a minimum wage job and doing my best to save money but of course I still couldn't afford a mortgage, utilities, a car payment, etc, so inevitably the home was foreclosed and the car was repoed. This was thankfully towards the end of the summer after graduating high school, so I was beyond thankful to be going to a new dormitory with A/C, electricity, working water, etc soon. My life has been an absolute rollercoaster and I have dealt with things people simply should not have to face, and here I am as a junior at a prestigious university, an internship for the summer, good academic standing, with wonderful people around me. Although they can't vocalize it, I know my mom and dad are beyond proud of me and though they couldn't be present in my life for very long, their impact/influence was major and their doings for me as a child and young adult will be carried with me throughout the remainder of my life.

Mental health has affected my life in ways I never even imagined to be quite frank. Not that I've ever dismissed the idea of mental health and it affecting people negatively, but it was one of those "surely it won't get too bad for me, right?" attitudes towards it and coming to college, making new relationships, and enduring new stresses has emphasized any instability that may have not been as prevalent prior. I think a lot. I don't tend to speak before I've thoroughly thought out my responses and I value communication very heavily. I love listening to people and hearing what they have to say. I don't play therapist (unless they'd like me to), but I just enjoy sitting there and allowing them to speak without interruption. Oftentimes, I don't feel like this is reciprocated and this affects me greatly. I have always been very prideful and independent, so I don't naturally reach out to people for support. One, because I feel like I often burden people and don't like overloading them with my problems. Two, a lot of people don't care, or they say they do but their actions say otherwise. I am a confrontational person, but know that does not equate to rude/violent/or fierce. I do not like to bother people and be redundant, so I do my best to raise a concern that I have with someone when I am bothered by it and not prolong it -- as I'd like them to do for me if they were upset. This unfortunately has not benefitted me in some cases. People often take it as a personal attack or insulting to find out something they are doing is bothering me, which I don't really understand. I try to be understanding when people raise concerns with me, but whenever I raise concerns with people it is always seen as hostile. This upsets me, because I am not a mean person. I never want to make people feel bad about themselves. If anything, I try to make sure I am constantly putting a smile on other's faces. It just sucks to see that people only seem to value honesty and communication when it is positive or complementary, not when it is constructive or maybe not exactly what they want to hear. All in all, my experience with mental health has pushed me to be more mindful of the impact I have on others, how I am affected, and how life is really not fair sometimes. I have always been aware that life isn't fair, but it has recently been emphasized. You doing everything right, being selfless, being a bigger person, looking out for others, or anything else that may be seen as ideal does not constitute reciprocation or even it being acknowledged. On a more positive note, it does fixate me more on my goals than I guess I would be otherwise. My personal goals and achievements are one of the few things in life that really cannot be altered by anyone other than me, so when all else goes wrong it's something I know will always be there. Although unfortunate, it has shaped me grow into a person that I am fond of. I am confident, love myself, and I do truly enjoy making others happy, while also prioritizing my own happiness. So despite any wrongs or injustices that have happened and will surely continue to happen, I will do my best to remain the person who enjoys helping others and just continue being me throughout times where it may be harder to want to embody those characteristics.

I know there are a lot of mixed feelings around college and whether it is worth it or not, but having been here the three years that I have and now only having one year left I personally have seen it as very valuable. I was privileged to be able to come to a prestigious university and attend one of the top business schools in the nation, so my choice to attend was almost a no brainer. But even having received scholarships, I knew they wouldn't cover all of my living expenses in a city like Austin. I know this financial burden is common for many students, so in convincing a peer to come to college I would let them know that I was in their shoes when it comes to finances (and still am). I'd make it known that I came to college knowing I didn't have any financial support from parents, family members, etc, and that's ok. No, you can't live as worry-free of a life as some of your peers, you have to be a lot more mindful of where exactly all your money goes and how you make use of your time, but it will be worth it in the end. I'm not a huge fan of taking on more loans than you will eventually be able to handle at the end of your schooling, but assuming your final loan balance remotely parallel to your entry level salary -- I believe it's one of the best investments you can make for your future. Another big point I would try to emphasize, is that you do not have to attend a 4 year university right out of high school. I was fortunate enough to be able to do that, but I surely would've been in a much better financial situation if I attended community college first and transferred. All in all, college provides resources, people, affiliations, clubs, etc, that you get to utilize and experience in your everyday life just for being a student. These opportunities and exposure can be absolutely life changing, and I would make sure my peer knows how it has personally done that for me and some of the closest people in my life that I have met in college.

When I was nine years old, four days prior to my 10th birthday, my mother passed due to a failed heart transplant. I remember my family telling me it was not looking good for her and that we had to be prepared for the worst, and unfortunately, that worst happened. A lot of people may say or think that I was too young and I couldn't actually grasp what was happening at the time, but I can assure you my mother's loss was fully felt. My family has told me when I was a kid, I was very outgoing, extroverted, and just a pretty excited and giddy kid. With the passing of my mother, they said my demeanor changed and I didn't necessary hold the same traits that I once did. Despite growing up and my personality inevitably changing, I became a lot more reserved and was forced to grow up quickly. I was faced with a very tough reality at a very young age and witnessed the unfairness and curveballs that can happen. I saw that life was not all sunshine and daises, and it was interesting as I had grown up a pretty privileged child, who never really yearned for anything because I was provided with the necessities. But losing my mother showcased that everything was not guaranteed in life, injustices happen, and there is oftentimes no justification for them. Although dealing with this at a young age, I used it as a driving force for the future and it has remained extremely prevalent in my life up to this point. I understand that unfair things happen, a parent passing before they get to see their child grow up being one of them. It pains me more than I can describe -- mainly because I can't say I knew my mother very well, remember her mannerisms, or how she acted really. My only source of figuring out how she was as a person is through family, and that naturally upsets me because I feel like if anyone should know her it should be her son. Although losing a parent creates an emptiness in your life like no other, I believe that having happened has sculpted me into a person that I would not have been otherwise. And to be frank, I love who I am and who I have become -- and I know my mother does too.

My name is Roland Davis and I am a third year Finance major here at The University of Texas at Austin. Since I've been in college, business has been a high interest of mine and I've been doing the best I can to improve my technical, professional, and personal development in this field. I yearned for an education in finances, because I did not get a proper one in the household I grew up in. My mother and father always made sure I was taken care of and provided for despite their financial struggles, but I unfortunately was never showcased great financial habits. Because of this, I thought business finance was the best major to pursue to get insight on managing money and just future financials. I also felt as if the way I managed money was a lot more imminent for me than most of my peers, because I knew I was going to be in complete control of all of my finances throughout the entirety of college. I wanted to be mindful of my financial decisions and make sure I was in the best position to plan for my future. Planning and prepping for this as a freshman in college was stress induced, but me being a junior now I've fell into the rhythm a bit and am doing the best I can to finish off my college career strong. Along the way, I have shared my financial tips with my peers and family members informing them and giving them insight about what all I am learning. I hope to continue to do this post grad and help people out with investing, personal finance, and other means of financial security. I enjoy doing this and I've gotten to the point where I have already made a lot of mistakes and went through the "hardships" of not budgeting correctly, learning how to save, etc. Again, I have made my mistakes and had no one guide me, so I hope to be in a position to prevent others from making the same ones and starting them off on a better foot than me. Successful business is also dependent on a lot of networking, connections, and finding the best people to keep in your circle. By continuing this, I hope to make important and valuable connections that are present throughout my adult life. My education in these aspects will hopefully help many people out with their finances, while also keeping my own in check at the same time. Business and finance have grown to consume my life and I think it is for the best. One day I hope to be in a position to live comfortably, help out my family, eventual wife, and put my kids in great schools. I want to provide everything my family was not able to provide for me as a kid, and that in itself will be a huge milestone met for me. As they say -- happy wife, happy life.

To be frank, I don't like to throw around terms like "depressed," when I have never been diagnosed for it. It comes off very insensitive and dramatic to me and is not a subject I like to joke around with or pretend I relate to with such a light load compared to others. But I feel as if I have experienced a roller coaster of emotions involving mental health since I've been in college. I don't have the typical college lifestyle, where my parents pay for my housing, car, groceries, and I just worry about whether I have enough money for food or a cool shirt to buy at a thrift shore this weekend. Unfortunately this is not the case for me and I am responsible for every single one of my expenses. Because of this, I have had a lot of anxiety and stress I've carried along with me since college began. It is very hard to afford expensive bills like rent, groceries, phone payment, wifi payment, etc when you don't have time to work full time and even then would hardly make enough to afford all of these things, while having school to prioritize as well. I try my best to stay away from loans as I know they tend to cripple people for a long time, and my goal is to be debt free upon graduation next year. If I can accomplish this feat, I'll begin my career with great confidence because to me I'll feel like I've done the impossible. This is a very important goal to me and to accomplish that, I am struggling financially trying to put food on the table and keep paying my housing so I am not evicted. Dealing with this consistently can be absolutely draining and choosing which bill I want to pay in full this month can get to be really tough. I don't want to be seen as financially incompetent and become a headache to my landlord, phone company, or any other parties -- but it's extremely difficult to support myself right now. I have been applying to numerous scholarships and just doing whatever I can to make sure I stay in a good financial standing. Like many other mental health issues, this has influenced my beliefs, relationships, and career aspirations. Naturally, my situation has affected my relationships in a negative way. When I am struggling, I tend to distance myself from friends and family as I don't want to inconvenience anyone. Even when they insist on figuring out what's wrong, I completely avoid discussion on it. On a more positive note, it does motivate me for my career aspirations as I know I will not be in a situation like this forever. That thought in itself keeps me motivated and makes me extremely determined to accomplish what I know I will accomplish in the coming years, regardless of how difficult the present is. Relating to my beliefs, my situation has really emphasized the quote of, "Don't judge a book by its cover." You truly never know what some people are going through and that is why I have increased the number of random acts of kindness I commit. I love making people's day or just doing small things that will put a smile on someone's face. I feel as if a lot of people get caught up in themselves, when we should really be turning our attention to others sometimes and making sure people around us are doing well.

I am an only child, first-generation, and low income student. It's safe to say at one point, I didn't feel like college was intended for people like me as it has a price tag that surely no low income student could afford. There was a point in time in my life where I came to a hard realization and was curious about how I would attend school. I remember I went to my father my freshman year in high school and asked him how I would attend college. I had no idea his response would fuel me into commencing my fully independent and self reliant nature. My father took a short pause and said, "Loans. That's the only possibility I can see." I'm not really sure what I was expecting to hear, but this answer infuriated me. Although I was pretty young at the time, I was aware of the stories and reality of people paying their loans off for the rest of their life. I did not want this to be my reality, I didn't want to finally get to college, being the first one to do so, and just end up paying for it (plus an additional thousands and thousands..) for the rest of my life. This wasn't something I was going to settle for and accept just because of my consequences. This forced me to start doing my absolute best to apply myself, make superb grades, and take measures and opportunities most of my my peers were not taking at that time. This resulted into me receiving scholarships, grants, and funding my own tuition -- something high school me could have never envisioned years ago. Although I was very hard working and successful in acquiring scholarships, the entire cost of attendance and living at UT far exceeded my means and I was forced to take out loans my freshman year. My tuition is paid for annually and I understand that is a blessing, and I'm beyond grateful but there are still many outstanding costs that may not be visible on my profile. Rent in the Austin area is incredibly expensive, especially when you're planning on funding it yourself and these costs may be be even worse than tuition would have been. Since high school, I feel as if the odds have been against me and I have overcame a lot, but a more financial help would put me in a comfortable place where I can pay my bills, loans, and still have money left over to eat and maybe hang out with friends and enjoy my time in college from time to time. I'm a business major and since I've been at university I've taken a huge interest in personal finance, investing, credit, and just financial literacy in general. At this point in my academic career, I lead a cohort of students and teach them about all of this as we research, present, and track stocks together. This is my way of giving back my knowledge to those who were not taught this and naturally have not went out of their way to find out. My tutoring business I've had since sophomore year in high school makes sure to seek out underserved and unrepresented kids as well. After graduation, I plan on expanding my network/reach helping everyone that I can, because I know I'll remember how it felt to be in their shoes. My plan of action to give back will be my driving force for my persistence and will to continue to overcome challenges I am faced it.

I feel as if learning is essential to being able to advance in this world and surely most would agree with this. I've always found pleasure in educating others, because I remember my initial feeling of curiosity, knowledge, and how powerful I felt at the time. That same feeling occurs with me to this day when it comes to learning new things and I personally think everyone should become familiar with that feeling. The quote, "Knowledge is power" is one popular cliche that still holds true, regardless of how redundant it may seem at this point. I find more pleasure in educating than being educated, and I think that says a lot in itself because I take it upon myself to research and learn about whatever I can, daily. When I was younger and preparing to apply to college, I quickly realized how much I didn't know about the college application process, testing requirements/prep, and anything college had to offer. I'm currently a junior in college, way farther along than I could have imagined some years ago, but the feeling I had then was something I wouldn't want anyone to go through at any point in their life. I'm an only child, first-generation, and low income student so college wasn't exactly "calling my name" when I was finishing up high school. Financial issues were a big reason for my troubles, and that's why I feel as if there is a desire and need within me to give back and provide information to students that many won't find out from any other sources. My experiences growing up within itself sparked my ambition to educate. Because of this, I am studying finance/computer science and have recently founded an investing group here at The University of Texas at Austin where I teach, lead, and research with a 25+ person cohort about stocks, their due diligence, investing, and financial literacy in general. I don't claim myself to be an expert by any means, but I've definitely learned and studied a vast amount since I've been in college to be in the position to teach others, and I couldn't be any happier. I hope for this to transition into my career as well. I've also been tutoring students since I was a sophomore in high school and I think an important thing I've learned is that every student learns and interprets concepts differently. This makes tutoring a case by case basis and you can't bring tactics/routines over from one student and expect them to work for the next. I take pride in being creative, innovative, and finding the best method for my students to properly learn. This scholarship would aid me in doing this and put me in a better situation, where I can worry just a bit less about financials and prioritize academics and extracurriculars.

My name is Roland Davis and I am attending The University of Texas at Austin studying Finance with a certification in Computer Science. I am involved in several organizations on campus ranging from the University Chess Team, Heman Sweatt Center for Black Males, founded an investing group, co-founded an NFT project, and am currently en route to joining a fraternity. I try to keep myself occupied around campus but things will start to slow down soon when I begin my Spring 2022 internship at a tech startup here in Austin. I'm a first-generation student and an only child, so everything that I've endured and found out in the last 3-4ish years about college, internships, resumes, interview processes, etc, has been on my own accord. I wouldn't have even been able to attend college at all if I hadn't received scholarships in high school, so I've paved the way for myself and am thankful that I've made it this far. I set a goal my freshmen year in college to graduate with a 3.80+ GPA and as I ease into my senior year with a ~3.71, I'm gonna do the best I can to finish near my goal. And with that academic goal, I've also made goals to be more extroverted to an extent/social, construct better study habits (has improved greatly since high school), and just try to let a good number of people see and experience who I am as a person in, arguably, the most interactive time of my life. I aspire to live a life that no one in my family has built for themselves yet and hope to make my parents and most importantly, myself, proud of everything that comes with that. I plan to graduate with my degree next year, work in banking, start aggressively investing, and start to financially stabilize myself at a young age. This scholarship would help me start reaching my financial goals while I am still in school, which is something I never thought would be possible. Being presented with a scholarship of this magnitude would allow me to start paying my loans off immediately and pay off a huge portion before I graduate next year. I know how interest works on loans, how people are still paying them off in their mid to late years of life, how it sometimes takes years before people even start touching their principal balance, etc. I've always hated loans with a passion and every time I think of them my mind always wanders back to the times I had with my dad my freshman year in high school. I would always ask him how I was going to pay for college, and loans were his solution always. This constantly frustrated me and forced me to fund my schooling myself by either saving or acquiring scholarships, and that's exactly what I pushed myself to do. If I were presented with this scholarship and able to save a bit of my money, I would definitely just use it to stock up on food/pay rent a lot faster monthly, help my family, and invest whatever is remaining. Being a finance major, I've gradually let personal finance, investing, and financial literacy, in general, consume my life -- all for the best of course. This scholarship would allow me to prioritize and fixate attention on the things in life that matter to me the most: family, health, and finances. I think everyone deserves to have those three areas stable in their life and this aid would be the first step in touching these areas for me in a major way.