My name is Dejoie Roodson, I’ll start off by introducing myself and sharing a few things about me that have shaped me into who I am today as well as contributed to my desire of becoming a Civil Engineer. Currently, I am a graduating senior at Washington Marion Magnet High School which is in Lake Charles, Louisiana. I moved here seven years ago from Haiti. When I first moved here it was very hard because I didn't know any English which made it difficult for me to learn in school. Therefore, I attended two schools for a few years to get myself on the same level as my classmates. Although it was very hard, I did not let that stop me. I was determined to go to college and make my family proud by being the first person in our family to do so. During my high school career, I went from not being able to speak English to maintaining a 4.0 grade point average and challenging myself by taking AP courses. Throughout my life, I have encountered many events and accomplishments that sparked personal growth and opened my eyes. There are times that I feel like they should have never happened, but everything happens for a reason. A lot of things happened in the life that opened my eyes and made me see the bigger picture. For example, one time when I was in Haiti my grandma told me “Eat the food, your momma doesn’t send no money for you to be wasting money”. As I grew older, I start to think a little differently, I used to think my grandma loved me to the fullest but now I realized what she meant by saying that. I was too little to realize it. I mean don’t get me wrong she loved me, but I don’t think she loved me like that, at least I think she did. This is one of the events that occurred in the life that opened my eyes or changed me. I learned a lot from that situation. I can honestly say that it has changed me in some ways, I learned that people like to throw slurs and some people like to take advantage of people. In that case, she was taking advantage of me because some days I would get sent home from school because she – or they – didn’t pay the funds. It changed me in ways, it opened my eyes to see what people's intentions are and when they are taking advantage of me. In Conclusion, there is a lot of stuff that happened in my life that changed me mentally, and my mindset is somewhat different now because of the stuff I had to go through and the obstacles I had to face.

My name is Dejoie Roodson, I’ll start by introducing myself and sharing a few things about me that have shaped me into who I am today as well as contributed to my desire of becoming a Civil Engineer. Currently, I am a graduating senior at Washington Marion Magnet High School which is in Lake Charles, Louisiana. I moved here seven years ago from Haiti. When I first moved here it was very hard because I didn't know any English which made it difficult for me to learn in school. Therefore, I attended two schools for a few years to get myself on the same level as my classmates. Although it was very hard, I did not let that stop me. I was determined to go to college and make my family proud by being the first person in our family to do so. During my high school career, I went from not being able to speak English to maintaining a 4.0 grade point average and challenging myself by taking AP courses. Throughout my life, I have encountered many events and accomplishments that sparked personal growth and opened my eyes. There are times that I feel like they should have never happened, but everything happens for a reason. A lot of things happened in the life that opened my eyes and made me see the bigger picture. For example, one time when I was in Haiti my grandma told me “Eat the food, your momma doesn’t send no money for you to be wasting money”. As I grew older, I start to think a little differently, I used to think my grandma loved me to the fullest but now I realized what she meant by saying that. I was to little to realize it. I mean don’t get me wrong she loved me, but I don’t think she loved me like that, at least I think she did. This is one of the events that occurred in the life that opened my eyes or changed me. I learned a lot from that situation. I can honestly say that it has changed me in some ways, I learned that people like to throw slurs and some people like to take advantage of people. In that case, she was taking advantage of me because some days I would get sent home from school because she – or they – didn’t pay the funds. It changed me in ways, it opened my eyes to see what people's intentions are and when they are taking advantage of me. In Conclusion, there is a lot of stuff that happened in my life that changed me mentally, and my mindset is somewhat different now because of the stuff I had to go through and the obstacles I had to face.

Dear Scholarship Committee, I’ll start off by introducing myself and sharing a few things about me that have shaped me into who I am today as well as contributed to my desire of becoming a Civil Engineer. Currently, I am a graduating senior at Washington Marion Magnet High School which is in Lake Charles, Louisiana. I moved here seven years ago from Haiti. When I first moved here it was very hard because I didn't know any English which made it difficult for me to learn in school. Therefore, I attended two schools for a few years to get myself on the same level as my classmates. Although it was very hard, I did not let that stop me. I was determined to go to college and make my family proud by being the first person in our family to do so. During my high school career, I went from not being able to speak English to maintaining a 4.0 grade point average and challenging myself by taking AP courses. Although it has increased over the years, my passion for civil engineering first developed during my childhood. As a child I didn't have much and life wasn't very easy. However, one of the things that always kept me going was imagining the future that I would build for myself. If you've ever experienced living in Haiti, you would know that there aren't many nice houses or buildings there. I would like to change that. The future that I envisioned for myself would be nothing like the life I had in Haiti; I wanted a huge luxurious home with a large backyard for my children to be able to play in. While imagining this future for myself, I also wanted that for the rest of the community in Haiti. I truly want to be able to give back to my community. As a Civil Engineer, I feel that I can do just that and more! Furthermore, I’d like to be able to contribute to building up areas in Lake Charles. For the past seven years, I´ve noticed many things that are wrong with the infrastructure of my city that I would like to fix. Some of those concerns include, abandoned houses, wastelands, severe flooding, sewage problems, and damaged roads. By earning my degree in Civil Engineering, I will have the skills and tools needed to impact my city in a positive way and be able to help hundreds of underdeveloped areas all over the world as well; all while doing something that I love. Thank you for your time and consideration of me as a recipient of your scholarship.

Dear Scholarship Committee, I would like to start off by introducing myself and sharing a few things about me that have shaped me into who I am today as well as contributed to my desire of becoming a Civil Engineer. Currently, I am a graduating senior at Washington Marion Magnet High School which is in Lake Charles, Louisiana. I moved here seven years ago from Haiti. When I first moved here it was very hard because I didn't know any English which made it difficult for me to learn in school. Therefore, I attended two schools for a few years to get myself on the same level as my classmates. Although it was very hard, I did not let that stop me. I was determined to go to college and make my family proud by being the first person in our family to do so. During my high school career, I went from not being able to speak English to maintaining a 4.0 grade point average and challenging myself by taking AP courses. Although it has increased over the years, my passion for civil engineering first developed during my childhood. As a child, I didn't have much and life wasn't very easy. However, one of the things that always kept me going was imagining the future that I would build for myself. If you've ever experienced living in Haiti, you would know that there aren't many nice houses or buildings there. I would like to change that. The future that I envisioned for myself would be nothing like the life I had in Haiti; I wanted a huge luxurious home with a large backyard for my children to be able to play in. While imagining this future for myself, I also wanted that for the rest of the community in Haiti. I truly want to be able to give back to my community. As a Civil Engineer, I feel that I can do just that and more! Furthermore, I’d like to be able to contribute to building up areas in Lake Charles. For the past seven years, I´ve noticed many things that are wrong with the infrastructure of my city that I would like to fix. Some of those concerns include abandoned houses, wastelands, severe flooding, sewage problems, and damaged roads. By earning my degree in Civil Engineering, I will have the skills and tools needed to impact my city in a positive way and be able to help hundreds of underdeveloped areas all over the world as well; all while doing something that I love. Thank you for your time and consideration of me as a recipient of your scholarship.

I am a Senior at Washington Marion High School, I currently live in Lake Charles, Louisiana. I am originally from Haiti I am Haitian American. I moved to the United States when I was 11 years old which is 6 years ago. I moved here to Louisiana because this is where my Momma live, and I wanted to come stay with my Momma because she left when I as about 1 years old so technically I have only been known her for 7 years of my lifetime and I am 17. I want to go to school for Civil Engineer which is 4 years, I think, and I want to go back for 12 months for Real Estate. I have always liked big luxury houses ever since I was a kid and the idea of being able to build serval of houses like that has always been on my mind. The Real Estate part will be like a side job, while making money as a Civil Engineer I will use some of that money to buy abandoned houses and rebuild them and sell or put them to rent. I will also start investing as soon as I turn 18 this year. I believe the University of my choice would be a good match for me because I am not going there to play I want to go and handle business, It is strictly business. A lot of things happened in my life that opened my eyes and made me see a bigger picture. For example, one time when I was in Haiti my grandma told me “Eat the food, your momma doesn’t send no money for you to be wasting money”. As I grew older, I start to think a little different, I used to think my grandma loved me to the fullest but now I realized what she meant by saying that. I was to little then to realize it. I mean don’t get me wrong she loved me, but I don’t think she loved me like that, at least I think she did. This is one of the events that occurred in my life that opened my eyes or changed me. I learned a lot from that situation. I can honestly say that it has changed me in some ways, I learned that people like to throw slurs and some people like to take advantage on people. In that case she was taking advantage of me because some days I would get sent home from school because she – or they – didn’t pay the funds. It changed me in ways, it opened my eyes to see what people intentions are and when they are taking advantage of me. In Conclusion, there are a lot of stuff that happened in my life that changed me mentally, and my mindset is somewhat different now because of the stuff I had to go through and the obstacles I had to face.

My name is Dejoie Roodson, I am from Haiti, I’m in the 12th grade and this is a little bit about myself. Throughout my life I have encountered many events and accomplishments that sparked a personal growth and opened my eyes. There are times that I feel like they should have never happened, but everything happens for a reason. A lot of things happened in my life that opened my eyes and made me see a bigger picture. For example, one time when I was in Haiti my grandma told me “Eat the food, your momma doesn’t send no money for you to be wasting money”. As I grew older, I start to think a little different, I used to think my grandma loved me to the fullest but now I realized what she meant by saying that. I was to little then to realize it. I mean don’t get me wrong she loved me, but I don’t think she loved me like that, at least I think she did. This is one of the events that occurred in my life that opened my eyes or changed me. I learned a lot from that situation. I can honestly say that it has changed me in some ways, I learned that people like to throw slurs and some people like to take advantage on people. In that case she was taking advantage of me because some days I would get sent home from school because she – or they – didn’t pay the funds. It changed me in ways, it opened my eyes to see what people intentions are and when they are taking advantage of me. In Conclusion, there are a lot of stuff that happened in my life that changed me mentally, and my mindset is somewhat different now because of the stuff I had to go through and the obstacles I had to face. I want to go to school for Civil Engineer which is 4 years, I think, and I want to go back for 12 months for Real Estate. I have always liked big luxury houses ever since I was a kid and the idea of being able to build serval of houses like that has always been on my mind. The Real Estate part will be like a side job, while making money as a Civil Engineer I will use some of that money to buy abandoned houses and rebuild them and sell or put them to rent. I will also start investing as soon as I turn 18 this year. I believe the University of my choice would be a good match for me because I am not going there to play I want to go and handle business, It is strictly business.

My name is Dejoie Roodson, I am from Haiti, I’m in the 12th grade and this is a little bit about myself. Throughout my life I have encountered many events and accomplishments that sparked a personal growth and opened my eyes. There are times that I feel like they should have never happened, but everything happens for a reason. A lot of things happened in my life that opened my eyes and made me see a bigger picture. For example, one time when I was in Haiti my grandma told me “Eat the food, your momma doesn’t send no money for you to be wasting money”. As I grew older, I start to think a little different, I used to think my grandma loved me to the fullest but now I realized what she meant by saying that. I was to little then to realize it. I mean don’t get me wrong she loved me, but I don’t think she loved me like that, at least I think she did. This is one of the events that occurred in my life that opened my eyes or changed me. I learned a lot from that situation. I can honestly say that it has changed me in some ways, I learned that people like to throw slurs and some people like to take advantage on people. In that case she was taking advantage of me because some days I would get sent home from school because she – or they – didn’t pay the funds. It changed me in ways, it opened my eyes to see what people intentions are and when they are taking advantage of me. In Conclusion, there are a lot of stuff that happened in my life that changed me mentally, and my mindset is somewhat different now because of the stuff I had to go through and the obstacles I had to face. I also would like to imply that I want to go to school for Civil Engineer which is 4 years, I think, and I want to go back for 12 months for Real Estate. I have always liked big luxury houses ever since I was a kid and the idea of being able to build serval of houses like that has always been on my mind. The Real Estate part will be like a side job, while making money as a Civil Engineer I will use some of that money to buy abandoned houses and rebuild them and sell or put them to rent. I will also start investing as soon as I turn 18 this year. I believe the University of my choice would be a good match for me because I am not going there to play I want to go and handle business, It is strictly business.