So you want to know when my hard work aligned with an opportunity, I think I may have a few examples. I'm pretty sure everyone has their own story to tell about this anyway because we all have a life and this is very common. Okay, I think I can provide up to two examples.One example dealing with school and one example dealing with work. I might even have remembered more stories in the meantime but we will see. Well to start off I love the game of basketball so much, it keeps you out of so much trouble, clears your mind, and although it pays a lot I'll play the game for free as long as I have my respect and feel like I really showed who I am on the court, of course you'll get to know me off the court but getting known on the court will be a priority as well, but anyways lets get to the story. When I was in the seventh grade basketball tryouts were coming up and it was the month of October, I have already forgot to tryout the previous year because the second day of try outs the coach had stated no new comers for that day so I said screw it. Anyways, the summer before the school year of my seventh grade year I did work on my game and practiced but maybe not hard enough when I think about it. During the try outs it was going good for me and I was doing everything right, so everyone including me thought I should've made the team,WRONG! We got back the following Monday, I seen the list and my name wasn't on it so I was very disappointed, the only reason I didn't make the team is because I took too many shots but shooters are going to shoot the rock. So the following summer I worked my tail off and perfected my craft from day to night, in my Dad's backyard, working out at the gym,etc.I hooped on so many goals that summer, man that was the best summer ever in my opinion. The following school year we had tryouts again but a different and better coach which was a blessing because the last coach wasn't that good of a coach so I am glad God didn't allow me on the team at the time. Anyways, during that try outs at the beginning I seen my name get put on the list and yes again we had two days of tryouts. I was turning up that day and I was blessed to have made the team the first day of tryouts and ended up having a decent basketball year. The next one will be pretty short. I stared working at Olive Garden, an Italian Kitchen on August 25th,2020. At first i was working Friday through Sunday only, receiving little pay,small hours, etc. Therefore I started working harder,confronted my manager, being there on time/clocking in 5 minutes early,etc. In conclusion now I work at least 5 days a week, receive bigger paychecks,have increased hours and I am one of the best workers there which is a great accomplishment.

Today I will talk about my cultural experience as a first-generation American. In all Honesty I love being an American Citizen I wouldn't trade this for anything in the world. Other than that I'm not just any type of American I am a Proud African-American that wouldn't change anything about that, it is also a true blessing to have that ethnicity. Aside from that it is hard being an African-American or just an American at all because of all we go through. Being a black young man motivates me everyday to view the bigger picture and see nothing but brightness in the future. Your dreams make your future, weather it's bad or good. What I mean by that is if you have dreams don't just let them be dreams, if you want them to be surreal turn it into reality by working hard even if that means you have to sacrifice and buss your tail from here to there. Yes, I know the feeling of that but it is all worth it in the end. Challenges we face as Americans is facing a lot of adversity. From running marathons,overcoming fears, getting new jobs and seeking promotion and climbing to the top of the top. People have seen me come from the bottom to the top and I've come out of some big holes in my life. I've always faced adversity, I learned a lot the hard way, but one thing to overcome that is have patience and a calm mind. I've had teachers, coaches, and managers show disbelief in me and put me in places I wouldn't want to be which caused me to grind hard and work hard. I am forever thankful for them although they angered me, but the thing about that I did the right thing with my anger and stayed motivated and fueled up. When you learn how to motivate yourself life becomes easier and you can make it out of any situation. All I got to say is With God anything is possible, no matter your culture with him your visions, dreams and future will be the brightest and the steps you take to get there will all be worth it and make you become more grateful for anything. As I become older and older I become more thankful for everything, from little to big. On the other end being black is hard but is something to be very proud for. Life is short but I feel we have the shortest lives and that's something we have to face, a lot of black young men barely make it to 21 or past 30 years of living. The reason for that is racism, hatred and our mindsets, we all need to stop killing each other. Another challenge we face is having a job and I feel it's harder for us to see success all because people don't take us seriously. That is why when we do succeed it is taken very seriously and black-owned businesses are as well. It's a very blessing being an African-American although it is hard. No matter the culture always keep God first through your challenges and dreams and visions because that is the most important thing to get through these experiences, without him you wouldn't be able to talk about your accomplishments as well. In conclusion this is one of the most important thing life is about and to be able to go through challenges to shape your future is something to be proud of.

Hi, my name is Ryan Maxie. I am 17 years old,but I will be turning 18 on April 25th. I was born and raised here in the United States specifically in Memphis,Tennessee. I would describe my family as Middle-Class people, the reason that being is because they all have great paying jobs but as a whole we've never been rich, I would just say we're making it and aren't struggling at this point in our lives. Now I would say we've all been in a financial hole which is what i'll get to in just a moment. We all go through that or have been through some financial issues and that just happens, we can't control why that happens to us either half of the time. There have been times financial assistance was needed. When my parents were married it was a point in time where we were struggling. When I was around 8 years old is when in the summertime my mom got laid off from her job at Macy's and that was a time I literally watched my mom struggled. She still made a way to make sure I ate everyday and all, at the time my dad was the only working person in the house. I used to stay at my Aunt's and Grandmother's house from morning to night while she's out finding a job and that happened for a long time. I even heard her over the phone with people saying we were struggling to pay bills and everything so I'm guessing that's a time we've actually received financial assistance. It was then one day she picked me up from my Grandmother's house and she had Great news, she said Macy's called her back and she got her job back over there, and I was a little kid so just thinking about it I was very grateful back then for her and us because in any given situation things could've been worse and that's the mindset you got to have. What do I plan to have for my future in education? Well I will first start off by saying I am a senior in high school so I first plan on graduating with my diploma and going on the path to success. After that, I plan to receive a scholarship to college because I believe I am capable of one, that is exactly why I am striving and working as hard as I can for one, Then I want to receive my degree for Civil Engineering and graduate college having done all my time. Finally I have my permanent job and is on the road to success and live life to the fullest of the fullest. How do I plan to use my scholarship money to assist myself in my future endeavors? Well since scholarship money pays for school I will have it sent to the financial aid office. I will use it to pay my tuition,apply it to my bills,school expenses so I could actually get through school and pay for everything for my success and so I could keep going. Lastly they all say whatever's left you keep that in your pocket, if that's the case I plan on investing with it and not just put it to waste on junk such as video games and other materialistic things.

This Essay will be about experience in 2020, about what I learned, Experienced, planned for my future and more!!! What did I learn in this specific year? Well I learned that you have to have a lot of patience because that is the key to almost everything, I learned to make the best out of everything such as being creative and that every loss results in a greater gain. Now let me explain the situations of learning all of these things and the impacts it will have in your life. Okay, when I say patience is key, PATIENCE IS KEY! The reason that being is we've all experienced a pandemic due to a virus by the name of COVID-19 that is similar to the flu which is arguably more dangerous. This pandemic shut down sports,businesses, jobs,restaurants,etc and the list goes on and on the world will never be the same due to that in my eyes I think we will be wearing masks forever which is agreeable. During the pandemic I finally received my Driver's License and that took forever, like over the time I was supposed to get it. Mind you I received my permit during the month of October and received my License in the month of August, that is about 10 months . The reason to that being is basically the pandemic happened and the Driver services station closed. When it opened back up I had an appointment and my Mother took me too late by accident and it was so hard to set up a next one and mind you that was in the the month of June; after that we attempted multiple walk-ins sitting outside for about an hour and it just didn't work out so my Mother was finally able to set me up an appointment and I was patient I can say that is one experience I am grateful The Man Above has put me through and taught me and that is Patience, he really showed me that is key to success and a better and calm mind and I thank him for that. I also learned that every loss results in a greater gain. We've all loss someone during that year and it made all of us stronger, we've witnessed the tragic loss the the great late Kobe Bean Bryant, but the thing that made that a gain was The Los Angeles Lakers were able to bring home a championship to make him proud and it was only right. You learn to make the best out of everything especially when you have nothing, we've all done that before. Over the pandemic we have came up with things to do to such as playing video games, playing mobile games while virtually seeing each other, family in the house created games top play and played board games. I've experienced a lot of real world situations over this pandemic, drove a lot of places and traveled, still was able to play basketball and all. What I'm trying to say is life is too short and goes on if you make the best out of everything that will teach you to take advantage of opportunities and most of all you can't control each and everything that happens to you. I've also planned for my future such as graduating from high school, planning on college and what I want to do for a career. I have planned on receiving a scholarship for school, getting my degree and graduating from college, Start my career and build success in my life, have kids and get married by the age of 25 or older. Life has came with a lot of ups and downs but at the end of the day I am glad to be here and will always have the mindset to fulfill everything, Always Strive and Always Prosper