My social work journey started with an argument with my teacher about why murder is wrong. We were discussing the Aztec tradition of human sacrifices. I thought it was clear that killing people every day wasn’t okay, but my teacher argued that from their perspective, the world would end without human sacrifice. This sparked my interest in Mesoamerican culture and other cultures worldwide. I discovered that I loved learning different perspectives, such as how the Aztec people valued a life of purpose. This led me to discover I wanted to meet people from different backgrounds in my community and learn more about their struggles, which led me into social work. “If I go forward, I die. If I go backward, I die. Better go forward and die.” -Ashanti tribe of Ghana. I love this proverb because it helps me focus on my goals. I plan to receive my bachelor’s degree in social work and become a caseworker while gaining 4000 hours of experience to become a licensed social worker. A Case Worker encourages, supports, and provides recovery plans and assistance to their community. If I become a licensed social worker in case management, I can connect clients to resources to overcome challenges and provide therapeutic services to help disadvantaged people in my community. Going to college means getting a chance to make a meaningful impact. After graduating from Mott Community College, I’ll transfer to the University of Michigan-Flint in the fall, take six online classes, and get a job on campus to help my mother with the bills. In the winter semester, I'll also take six online classes and continue with my part-time job. I’m taking six online classes for the first two semesters to graduate on time in 2028, and because online classes are generally easier for me, I can still juggle work. For the last few semesters, I'll take four classes each, while working a paid internship. Along the way, I want to gain more social service experiences, such as volunteering, to get the best from my time in college. I know that I will receive at least $21,679 for the upcoming year, while the total cost of my classes will be around $27,307, not including school supplies. I have $3,685 I could use, but with how my mother needed to spend almost all the $18,190.06 of refund checks I received from Mott over the past two years to pay bills, I most likely won’t still have it when it’s time to pay for classes. So, I’ll need to earn money through applying for scholarships and working through college. To become the best social worker I can be, I’ll also need to be organized and thoughtful about my work, have a good work ethic, be motivated, and practice self-care. I’ll also need to watch how much I’m spending, so I’ve gotten into the habit of creating a monthly budget for fixed expenses. variable expenses. Finally, I’ll need to be extra prepared for classes, since I’m taking six. I’ll need to make a schedule and study time-management strategies before the fall semester starts, along with studying how much harder four-year universities are and pre-studying for my classes to know what to expect. The biggest roadblock is definitely my financial standing, but once I figure it out, I’ll be on track to make a difference for my community. Receiving the Joe Gilroy “Plan Your Work, Work Your Plan scholarship would not only help me financially but serve as another reminder that I have the ability to achieve success for myself and others.

It was usually nighttime when they would start arguing. And as a teenager, I would get scared. When my mom thought it was getting too bad, she made sure to get me out of the house. She kept saying she would get new locks on the door, but after months, it never happened, probably because she was working so much, and new locks would cost so much money. Some nights, I would wake up to him threatening to bust my mother’s door down if she didn’t unlock it. Sometimes she had me stay over at my grandmother's house so I wouldn’t be exposed to him. A few times, I felt so scared that I called 911, but then I would change my mind and tell them not to come because I felt like I was overreacting. And because we were African Americans, I was afraid the situation would escalate if the police were involved. Finally, she called the police on him and changed the locks after he threatened to kill her. That was a few years ago, and thankfully, we never saw her ex again. As a future social worker, my experience has led me to want to learn more about how to help other African American women who have suffered from domestic violence. I know that domestic violence is a terrible experience for women, and sometimes men, to go through, and even worse if they are women of color. My ultimate goal is to become a licensed social worker in case management, and when I have clients who have gone through the same situation my mother went through, I want to do what I can to help them with their struggles.

“Math stands for Mental Abuse to Humans,” is what one of my friends used to say. While most kids dislike math, it’s always been one of my favorite subjects, except for when I couldn’t solve a problem. To me, doing math problems was like doing a fun puzzle, such as Sudoku or logic grid puzzles. Math is a concept of analysis, critical thinking, and universality, and the history behind this concept is just as fascinating as the history of math shows how humans have evolved. World history shows math’s ability to transcend cultural and linguistic barriers, allowing people from different backgrounds to communicate complex ideas and concepts. In the past, math was seen as magic or witchcraft because it was such a powerful tool. It was powerful, specifically, for cultures that valued astronomy and architecture like the Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Mayans, Aztecs, and ancient Indians. While math has evolved over time, through concepts such as geometry and algebra, there is no way to predict how math will continue to evolve in the future, which makes it all the more exciting. One of the best things about math is how it can be incorporated into any subject. For example, I am going into the field of social work, which is about helping others in their journey of resolving their life struggles. The most important skills required for social work are critical thinking and viewing people and their problems through an intersectional lens. If one of my clients were a transgender gay black man, I would have to use critical thinking and intersectionality to analyze how these parts of his identity affected his life, and or problems, and think of ways he can resolve his issues. Because math encourages analytical and critical thinking skills, it will help me be the best social worker I can be. Math is one of the most important fields in the world. It has allowed humans to evolve societies, invent things that would’ve been impossible to make without it, and encourage critical thinking. That is why I love math and why math will always be important to me.

What would make someone stand out more? Being tall, being left-handed, or having an uncommon appreciation for people who are deemed “evil” and "psychopathic." The Aztec people were the native people of Mexico, whose descendants are called the Nahua. The Aztecs and other Mesoamerican groups did terrible things, such as human sacrifice, cannibalism, and the brutal conquest of other groups. However, there were good things about their society, such as universal education, respect for nature, and tolerance for the cultures and religions of their neighbors. Despite the misconceptions about the Aztecs, they were a complex and fascinating society that inspired my fascination with cultures worldwide. After I discovered that I loved learning different perspectives, such as how the Aztec people valued a life of purpose. This led me to discover I wanted to meet people from different backgrounds in my community and learn more about their struggles, which led me into social work. Social work is not just about understanding people and their backgrounds, but also about being open-minded and culturally competent, which is important to me personally as a black woman. “If I go forward, I die. If I go backward, I die. Better go forward and die.” -Ashanti tribe of Ghana. This proverb helps me focus on my goals of making a positive impact in my community as a social worker. I plan to earn my bachelor’s degree in social work to become a Case Worker. After gaining enough experience as a Case Worker, I can become a licensed social worker. A Case Worker encourages, supports, and provides recovery plans and assistance to their community. As a Case Worker, I’d have clients from many different backgrounds, including other African Americans in my community. If I succeed in becoming a licensed social worker in case management, I can connect clients to resources to overcome challenges and provide therapeutic services to help the disadvantaged people in my community. To offer creative value to my future employer and serve my community by using what I’ve learned about my heritage to offer unique perspectives. Every culture has something beautiful to offer. For example, Americans were inspired by European Hull Houses, which created a systematic approach to helping the poor and setting the foundation for social services. Furthermore, there are social workers who don’t apply intersectional thinking, which is made worse by the fact that the exam to become a social worker has cultural and racial biases. Overall, I’m going to use intersectional thinking to help those in my community foster personal growth and positive change.

My social work journey started with an argument with my teacher about why murder is wrong. We were discussing the Aztec tradition of human sacrifices. I thought it was clear that killing people every day wasn’t okay, but my teacher argued that from their perspective, the world would end without human sacrifice. This sparked my interest in Mesoamerican culture and other cultures worldwide. I discovered that I loved learning different perspectives, such as how the Aztec people valued a life of purpose. This led me to discover I wanted to meet people from different backgrounds in my community and learn more about their struggles, which led me into social work. In social work, learning and understanding people from different cultural backgrounds is important as we live in a diverse country where individual bias and systematic ignorance have historically and are currently harming minorities. We need more culturally competent, open-minded social workers to better assist people from different backgrounds. This is important to me personally as a black woman. So, I hope to provide empathy and understanding as a social worker, just as I've done in past social service experiences. Volunteering at my local church and interning at the Flint Community Lab to help residents learn what is in their water are steps I’ve taken to help my community. At the Bethel United Methodist church, I assisted in passing out water bottles to other Flint residents. While interning at the Flint Community Lab, I collected water samples from people’s homes, helped in PH and turbidity testing of their water, gave tours, and taught other Flint residents about the dangers of not knowing what is in their water. The Social Club was another internship experience that helped me on my path in the social work field. It’s a center for people with various disabilities to interact, learn social skills, and participate in activities. There, I learned how to better address my communication issues. My main objectives were assisting members, encouraging them to do activities, and communicating with them. At first, it was hard to get comfortable around the members and make conversation. Over time, I learned to better communicate with them by asking questions and finding new ways to start a conversation, such as asking what they were wearing or what they were looking forward to doing when they got home. Though I still need to improve my communication skills, I learned to put myself out there and get to know others, which will help me make a positive impact in my community. “If I go forward, I die. If I go backward, I die. Better go forward and die.” -Ashanti tribe of Ghana. This proverb helps me focus on my goals of making a positive impact in my community as a social worker. I plan to earn my bachelor’s degree in social work to become a Case Worker. After gaining enough experience as a Case Worker, I can become a licensed social worker. A Case Worker encourages, supports, and provides recovery plans and assistance to their community. As a Case Worker, I’d have clients from many different backgrounds, including other African Americans in my community. If I succeed in becoming a licensed social worker in case management, I can connect clients to resources to overcome challenges and provide therapeutic services to help the disadvantaged people in my community. Financial assistance will play a big role in whether I can continue my education. I would need financial aid to transfer in the fall of 2026 because it’s a four-year university, and the refund checks I received from my financial aid at Mott have almost been burned through by my mother, since working nonstop is not enough to pay the bills. I have already planned the classes I need to take for the next two years, and to graduate on time, I will need to take at least six classes in the upcoming fall and winter semesters, and take four classes for the next summer, fall, and winter semesters after that. I hope the WCEJ Thornton Foundation Low-Income Scholarship can assist me in my financial needs, so I can continue to make a positive impact on the lives of others.

It started with an argument with my teacher about why murder is wrong. We were discussing the Aztec tradition of human sacrifices. I thought it was clear that killing people every day wasn’t okay, but my teacher argued that from their perspective, the world would end without human sacrifice. This sparked my interest in Mesoamerican culture and other cultures worldwide. I discovered that I loved learning different perspectives, such as how the Aztec people valued a life of purpose. This led me to discover I wanted to meet people from different backgrounds in my community and learn more about their struggles, which led me into social work. In social work, learning and understanding people from different cultural backgrounds is important as we live in a diverse country where individual bias and systematic ignorance have historically and are currently harming minorities. We need more culturally competent and open-minded social workers to better assist people from different backgrounds. This is important to me personally because I’m a part of a minority group and learned, when I was younger, how my race puts me at more of a disadvantage. So, I hope to provide empathy and understanding as a social worker, just as I've done in past social service experiences. Volunteering at my local church and interning at the Flint Community Lab to help residents learn what is in their water are steps I’ve taken to help my community. At the Bethel United Methodist church, I assisted in passing out water bottles to other Flint residents. While interning at the Flint Community Lab, I collected water samples from people’s homes, helped in PH and turbidity testing of their water, gave tours, and taught other Flint residents about the dangers of not knowing what is in their water. The Social Club was another internship experience that helped me on my path in the social work field. It’s a center for people with various disabilities to interact, learn social skills, and participate in activities. There, I learned how to better address my communication issues. My main objectives were assisting members, encouraging them to do activities, and communicating with them. At first, it was hard to get comfortable around the members and make conversation. Over time, I learned to better communicate with them by asking questions and finding new ways to start a conversation, such as asking what they were wearing or what they were looking forward to doing when they got home. Though I still need to improve my communication skills, I learned to put myself out there and get to know others, which will help me make a positive impact in my community. “If I go forward, I die. If I go backward, I die. Better go forward and die.” -Ashanti tribe of Ghana. This proverb helps me focus on my goals of making a positive impact in my community as a social worker. I plan to receive my bachelor’s degree in social work and become a Case Worker while gaining enough experience to become a licensed social worker. A Case Worker encourages, supports, and provides recovery plans and assistance to their community. As a Case Worker, I’d have clients from many different backgrounds, including other African Americans in my community. If I succeed in becoming a licensed social worker in case management, I can connect clients to resources to overcome challenges and provide therapeutic services to help the disadvantaged people in my community.

The values of service, sacrifice, and bravery from Sgt. Albert Dono Ware’s story of death and commitment inspires me because those three traits are important in creating a better world and society. These values shaped my personal journey by reminding me of what is necessary to build a better society. And that is what I plan to do in my future career as a social worker. It started with an argument with my teacher about why murder is wrong. We were discussing the Aztec tradition of human sacrifices. I thought it was clear that killing people every day wasn’t okay, but my teacher argued that from their perspective, the world would end without human sacrifice. This sparked my interest in Mesoamerican culture and other cultures worldwide. I discovered that I loved learning different perspectives, such as how the Aztec people valued a life of purpose. This led me to discover I wanted to meet people from different backgrounds in my community and learn more about their struggles, which led me into social work. Social work relates to the values of service, sacrifice, and bravery because it is a mentally damaging field that requires a lot of self-care to assist others with their basic needs. A social worker’s job is to help others by working with empathy and understanding, especially in a country that’s very diverse and home to people with unique experiences and issues. As a Black woman, this is deeply personal for me, and it’s why social work has a big influence on how society progresses. For example, the foundation for social work started with the American Hull houses in 1889, which created a systematic approach to helping the poor and settling in the United States. How I want to serve my community in the social work field is by becoming a licensed case management social worker so that I can demonstrate a commitment to others, like how Sgt. Albert Dono Ware demonstrated in his journey. “If I go forward, I die. If I go backward, I die. Better go forward and die.” -Ashanti tribe of Ghana. This proverb helps me move forward with my goals in following my mother’s footsteps by helping others. I plan to receive my bachelor’s degree in social work and become a case worker while gaining enough experience to become a licensed social worker. The job of a case worker is to encourage, support, and provide recovery plans and assistance to those in the community. As a case worker, I’d have clients from many different backgrounds, including other African Americans just like me. If I succeed in becoming a licensed social worker in case management, I can connect clients to resources to overcome challenges and provide therapeutic services, so I can help the disadvantaged people in my community. As a future social worker, I am excited to be able to help disadvantaged people in my community by using my heritage. I am proud to be an African American, as an amazing history of resistance, bravery, and fighting for equal rights inspires me. However, I also want to use my heritage from beyond America to assist me in my social work journey. After taking an ancestry test, I learned that I have ancestry with the Fulbe people of Guinea Bissau, the Kru people of Liberia, and the Mende and Temne people of Sierra Leone. For most people, the words “Africa” and “diverse” are generally thought of as completely unrelated terms. The truth is that Africa is very diverse, with many ethnic groups living in each country with their own unique heritage. For example, even though I am related to the Fulbe of Guinea-Bissau, they have differences from the Fulbe tribes in other parts of Africa. Learning this allows me to recognize that, as a social worker, I’ll need to recognize these complexities when working with clients with different backgrounds. These lessons teach me not to believe something before I research it. From Education to health, challenges faced by the African diaspora in the US have occurred for centuries and are baked into the system in which America operates. My vision for addressing this issue starts with educating more Americans on systemic inequality. I have seen so much ignorance when it comes to systemic racism, where many people deny its existence or are unaware of it completely, preferring to take a colorblind approach without realizing the harm it does in encouraging systemic discrimination to persist. We need to allow Americans to see the harm that African Americans face if we expect more to be done about it. The policy reforms most critical to assessing this issue include school funding policies, incarceration, and healthcare. This will help to address the unequal funding distributed to schools in predominantly black areas, disparities in access to healthcare, and harsher prison sentences for African Americans. Key stakeholders in driving towards these goals are policymakers, education boards, and health institutions. As a black woman going into the social work field, it can feel very discouraging to continuously learn the inequalities people like me still have to go through in the modern day, especially since many people want to pretend like these issues don’t exist. However, remembering how far African Americans and other minorities have come, I feel assured that, while racism will always be a problem, there are still possibilities to make things better. Ultimately, if Sgt. Albert Dono Ware’s life could make such a positive impact, and I also want to create a positive impact on the people in my community, even if I don’t receive the Sgt. Albert Dono Ware Memorial Scholarship.

What should a woman do if she is a lower-class single mother of two children and has no college degree? For my mother, she often had to rely on family for support and worked as hard as she could. Younger me never understood what our situation was like. I was happy with having one parent and never questioned why she wanted me to take school more seriously or why she tried to teach me not to waste money. Growing up, I began to understand that life was not easy for her, which is why she had me value my education. She was my motivation to start caring about my grades. She worked all day to keep up with the bills, while I found my love for learning. Despite how stressed she must have been, she always tried to encourage any hobby or interest I had. When I wanted to learn about my ancestry, she called my aunt to set up an ancestry test. As I became more interested in different cultures, she praised me for wanting to learn. When I decided that I wanted to go into social work, she told me that I would be a good social worker, and her support is one of the reasons I am grateful to her. She is a big reason why I chose social work as a profession. Watching my mother work as a nursing assistant is what pushed me into social work. She would often need to take me to work with her, allowing me to watch her care for her patients. She also taught me the value of helping others by taking me with her to volunteer in helping our community by passing out water or assisting homeless people. I am grateful to her for raising me the way she did, because it set the foundation for me to learn my future career path. “If I go forward, I die. If I go backward, I die. Better go forward and die.” -Ashanti tribe of Ghana. This proverb helps me move forward with my goals in following my mother’s footsteps by helping others. I plan to receive my bachelor’s degree in social work and become a case worker while gaining enough experience to become a licensed social worker. The job of a case worker is to encourage, support, and provide recovery plans and assistance to those in the community. As a case worker, I’d have clients from many different backgrounds, including single parents just like my mother. If I succeed in becoming a licensed social worker in case management, I can connect clients to resources to overcome challenges and provide therapeutic services, so I can help the disadvantaged people in my community. I have witnessed my mother helping others around the community, which makes it sad to watch her work nonstop to pay the bills. For now, I am able to allow her to take the money I have from working while going to school and the refund checks from the financial aid I’ve received at Mott Community College. As I transfer to the University of Michigan-Flint for my bachelor’s, I’m planning to take six courses for the next two semesters while working an on-campus job in order to make sure I have enough money she can use to pay her bills and to make sure I graduate on time so my mother won’t feel obligated to still take care of me. I’m hoping to receive the Curtis Holloway Memorial Scholarship to make my mother proud and to relieve the financial burden I put on her.

It started with an argument with my teacher about why murder is wrong. We were discussing the Aztec tradition of human sacrifices. I thought it was clear that killing people every day wasn’t okay, but my teacher argued that from their perspective, the world would end without human sacrifice. This sparked my interest in Mesoamerican culture and other cultures worldwide. I discovered that I loved learning different perspectives, such as how the Aztec people valued a life of purpose. This led me to discover I wanted to meet people from different backgrounds in my community and learn more about their struggles, which led me into social work. Like the professionals who made a difference in Wesley’s life, social workers encourage clients with empathy and understanding. I empathize and understand through learning about different cultures to form connections. Every culture has something beautiful to offer. For example, Americans took inspiration from European Hull houses to create a systematic approach to helping the poor and setting the foundation for social work. As a future social worker, I’ll make a difference in the lives of many disadvantaged people, including those with disabilities. If I can resolve my financial need to pay for classes, I’ll graduate in two years with my bachelor’s degree in social work and become a case worker while gaining enough experience to become a licensed social worker. The job of a case worker is to encourage, support, and provide recovery plans and assistance to those in the community. As a case worker, I’d have clients from many different backgrounds, especially those with special needs. As a licensed social worker in case management, I can connect clients to resources to overcome challenges and provide therapeutic services. I would love to use those abilities to help disabled people, based on my past experiences working with those populations. My first experience working with those with disabilities was in high school, where I volunteered to take a class where I would learn about disabilities like autism and Down syndrome. Later on, I was assigned as a peer mentor to schoolmates with disabilities each semester. That experience was my first introduction to people with disabilities, and I learned how not to treat them like they weren't capable or make them feel like I thought they needed my help. Instead of helping them, I was there to work with them as a friend. My second experience in working with disabled people was my internship at the Social Club. It was a center for disabled people to socialize, learn skills, and do fun activities. There, I learned how to better communicate with those who have disabilities when at first I was uncomfortable. I learned new things, like how unreliable lip reading is, and stereotypes about the disabled community. My experience at the social club helped me solidify how I viewed working with disabled people. “If I go forward, I die. If I go backward, I die. Better go forward and die.” -Ashanti tribe of Ghana. This proverb stuck with me for a long time, as it helps me move forward with my goals and reminds me of the path I set for my future. When I work with those with special needs in the future, I hope to make them feel supported and encouraged, and that is something that I am determined to do, even if I don’t receive the Wesley Beck Memorial Scholarship.

“If she were any quieter, she’d be dead” is how other kids would’ve described me. As a child, I struggled with deciding what to say and how to speak. Some people got annoyed with me, while others thought I was just ignoring them. Also, my family members fought about whether my personality was a problem. Like Lieba, I want to help children who are misunderstood and gifted in their own right, and my future as a social worker will assist me to do that. I chose social work because I value empathy and understanding people, especially in a diverse country. I believe we need more culturally competent and open-minded social workers so everyone can get help with their unique challenges. As a Black woman, this is deeply personal for me, which is why I want to be a caseworker to best support members of my community who are often misunderstood. My love for hearing different perspectives came from an argument I had with a teacher about whether murder is wrong. We were discussing the Aztecs and their tradition of human sacrifices. My teacher argued that from their perspective, the world would end without human sacrifices. This sparked my interest in understanding different perspectives, like how the Aztec people valued a life of purpose over fleeting happiness, or how the Fulani people view big eyes as a standard of beauty. What might seem unusual to us makes complete sense for them, and the same would apply to a child with unique views who feels alone. Lieba learned as a child to celebrate those who think differently. I was inspired by how she stood up for misunderstood kids and sought harmony, which resonated with my own efforts to help others. Through volunteering and internships, I served my community and moved closer to my career goals. My first experience working with children was when I volunteered at the Freedom School Summer Program. There, I assisted teachers, set up decorations, prepared lunches, and watched the children. I did have a hard time being assertive with the kids because I was a sensitive child, and it was painful when adults had to be stern with me. However, as I learned from the teachers, sometimes you need to set boundaries with kids. So, when I get the opportunity to work with children, I’ll remember to be assertive and understanding. Another volunteering experience I took was a class in my high school where I became a peer mentor to other kids with disabilities. In that class, I learned about autism, dyslexia, and how to be a friend to others with disabilities. Most importantly, I learned to get to know them, which was difficult because I was quiet. Today, I have an internship that also includes people with disabilities, and I’m doing a better job interacting with them than my peer buddies from high school. I can appreciate that experience now because it was a step towards stepping out of my shell. My most influential experience was interning at the Flint Community Lab. There, I helped test water samples, collect samples, and taught Flint residents about their water. It was my favorite experience because I got to give back to my community, which also paved the way for my future career as a caseworker. “Talk gets a talkative man into trouble” is a proverb from the African Fulbe tribe, from whom I share ancestry. This proverb describes why I was self-conscious about what I said as a kid, causing me to be misunderstood. If I have the opportunity, I will never want to make another kid feel the way I did, which is why caseworkers are important, as they help foster social, emotional, and environmental needs. Receiving the Lieba’s Legacy Scholarship is not just something that will help me get through college; it’s something that will assist me in assisting gifted and misunderstood kids.

“If I go forward, I die. If I go backward, I die. Better go forward and die.” This phrase perfectly encapsulates how I believe Kalia lived her life of moving towards her goals and not looking back. Like her, I was also a straight-A student during high school while being on a sports team. I was on the bowling team throughout high school, while juggling classes and an internship in my senior year. While an exhausting experience, I learned there is so much I’m capable of doing, which is why I would’ve appreciated having someone like Kalia for a friend. ​ I share Kalia’s ambition, but my aspirations pointed to a different career. From my world history class, I discovered that I loved learning about different cultures and their perspectives, such as how the Aztec people valued a life of purpose rather than fleeting happiness, or how the Sami people valued practical and observational-based learning. This allowed me to discover that I wanted to meet people from different backgrounds in my community and learn about their struggles, so I decided to become a social worker. ​ In social work, learning to understand people from different cultural backgrounds is important, as we live in a diverse country where individual bias and systematic ignorance have historically—and still do—harm minorities. Therefore, we need more social workers who are culturally competent and open-minded to people from different backgrounds, so that everyone can be understood and receive help for their unique struggles. This issue resonates with me personally because I’m a part of a minority group and have learned how my race puts me at a disadvantage. As I continue towards my bachelor’s degree, I hope to become the social worker my community needs. ​ Reflecting on my journey so far, I see that if Kalia and I had known each other, she could’ve motivated me to do even more. My experiences—volunteering as a peer mentor to students with disabilities, helping Flint residents learn about their water, and assisting teachers at a children’s summer program—taught me valuable lessons. Although I sometimes felt I hadn’t done much, each experience deepened my understanding of disabilities, community service, and workplace behavior. At Mott Community College, I struggled with classes, especially when I had to balance reading and writing, my job, and work to transfer to the University of Michigan-Flint. Transferring stressed me out; I was a slow reader and an even slower writer, and I would spend so many hours at my job. I learned to adapt by making a work schedule, finding reading and writing tips online, and doing homework while working. If I could, I’d ask Kalia for advice on how to keep moving forward. Maybe we could’ve even gone bowling, as I still enjoy watching the balls roll down the lanes and high fiving the other players, no matter the score. ​ Receiving the Kalia D. Davis Memorial Scholarship would help me continue my education as I plan to transfer and take six classes while hoping to find a campus job. Kalia’s story is truly inspiring, and I hope to accomplish as much as she has, even if I don't receive this scholarship. “If I go forward, I die. If I go backward, I die. Better go forward and die.” -Ashanti tribe of Ghana.

“I just feel depressed” was the only way I could make sense of what I was feeling, because there was no other reason for me to feel the way I did on my 17th birthday. There were a few times when I woke up on random days feeling like nothing was worth doing, but looking back, I doubt that what I was feeling was actual depression. However, what helped get through the day was having others listen to me and offer support, which I would discover, a lot of people with mental health problems do not get. “Mental health problems are rare,” people with mental illness are violent or dangerous,” people with mental illness can’t work or succeed.” In reality, mental health is actually quite common; those with mental illness are more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators, and individuals with mental health conditions are capable of living successful, meaningful lives and careers. These kinds of assumptions frustrate me personally because, as a black woman, I do not like seeing people like me boiled down into stereotypes, so hearing misconceptions about those with mental health conditions makes me want to advocate for them. I discovered my career path in high school, after I argued with my teacher about why murder is wrong. We were discussing the Aztecs and their tradition of human sacrifices. I thought it was clear that killing people every day wasn’t okay, but my teacher argued that from their perspective, the world would end if they did not continue with human sacrifice. This sparked my interest in learning about different people and their perspectives, such as how the Aztec people valued a life of purpose over fleeting happiness, or how the Sami people valued practical and observational-based learning. This allowed me to discover that I wanted to meet people from other backgrounds in my community and learn more about their struggles, which is one reason I chose social work as a career. Social work is a profession that requires an open mind and working to understand the situations others find themselves in. No matter what field of social work I go into, I will have clients who suffer from mental health issues, and I will need to work with and empathize with them. As someone who knows how beneficial it is to receive patience and understanding when you don’t feel like life is worthwhile, I want to make any future client I have with a mental health condition feel as understood as I did. By remembering my experience and having an open mind, I plan to use patience and understanding to make a positive impact.

What should a woman do if she is a lower-class single mother of two children and has no college degree? For my mother, she often had to rely on family for support and worked as hard as she could. Younger me never understood what our situation was like. I was happy with having one parent and never questioned why she wanted me to take school more seriously or why she tried to teach me not to waste money. ​ Growing up, I began to understand that life was not easy for her, which is why she had me value my education. She was my motivation to start caring about my grades. She worked all day to keep up with the bills, while I found my love for learning. When I didn’t agree with her advice, I applied it in different ways. She told me to keep up with Spanish from Spanish class, but I kept up with what I learned from my world history class instead. Learning about different cultures, I gained insight into interacting with people of different backgrounds in my community. ​ Despite how stressed she must have been, she always tried to encourage any hobby or interest I had. When I wanted to learn about my ancestry, she called my aunt to set up a DNA test. As I became more interested in different cultures, she praised me for wanting to learn. When I decided that I wanted to go into the social work field, she told me that I would be a good social worker, and her support is one of the reasons I am grateful to her. Watching my mother work as a nursing assistant is what I think helped push me in the direction of social work. She would often need to take me to work with her, allowing me to watch her care for her patients. I also had the opportunity to interact with them and learn a bit about their struggles. ​ I agreed to sign up for the youth empowerment program when she suggested it to me. That program led me to an internship at the Flint Community Lab. There, I learned that I enjoyed helping members of my community and decided that I wanted a career in social work. I imagine a future where I become a case worker so that I can advocate for people in my community, refer them towards resources, and set plans of recovery for struggles.

Most people would not spend hours watching videos on murderers and psychopaths, but I’m not like most people. I have been addicted to YouTube since I was little. If it wasn’t for school or doing chores, you would catch me lying in bed trying to find a video to watch. However, I learned to take more advantage of it as I got older. In middle school, I had problems controlling my emotions in class. Tears of frustration would run from my eyes whenever I’d struggle in class. So, I used YouTube to teach myself how to calm down when angered by taking deep breaths, thinking of calming music, and questioning myself on why I was angry in the first place. While I use technology to learn more about the world, personal growth, and to keep up with my classes, I feel like others do not take advantage of online platforms in the ways that they should. When I became interested in the social work field, I wanted to learn more about social issues and the psychology of why people act in certain ways. I would watch videos explaining how the disappearance of Native women is becoming more of an issue, because of their history of discrimination and complicated law enforcement responses due to jurisdictional challenges. Also, I sought out many videos on the psychology of murderers and psychopaths that taught me how influential factors (such as environmental and familial) can contribute to their chosen paths. However, in the case of psychopaths, there are no influential factors other than their brain function and structure. Learning about the psychology of people and the social issues in our society are big factors in becoming a social worker. Beyond YouTube, I would use platforms like Google and Safari to research the beliefs, traditions, and concepts of cultures worldwide. I learned how the Aztec people valued a life of purpose rather than fleeting happiness, or how the Sami people valued practical and observation-based learning. This allowed me to discover that I wanted to meet people from different backgrounds in my community and learn more about their struggles, which is one reason I went into social work. Other than learning cultural competence, I realized that I could also apply my knowledge as a future social worker by utilizing these different perspectives for my personal growth. Adopting values of practicality from the Sami can help me become a better problem solver and become more adaptable, as the Sami learned to be during the harsh winters. From the Aztecs, learning to value purpose over fleeting happiness can make me more focused on my goals rather than on the distracting pleasures of life. As I have already taken steps towards becoming a social worker by getting a job on my campus to provide other students with resources to help them continue their education and interning at the Flint Community Lab, I’ve been able to meet others from different backgrounds. So far, I’ve applied what I learned in real life when meeting others from different places, like my classmate from Ghana, my supervisor from Europe, and one of my co-workers from Ethiopia. With my continued use of online platforms to expand my knowledge, I am very hopeful for the future I’ve set up for myself.

My teenage self was confused as to why I was arguing with my teacher about why murder is wrong. We were discussing the Aztecs and their tradition of human sacrifices. I thought it was clear that killing people every day wasn’t okay, but my teacher argued that from their perspective, the world would end if they didn’t continue with human sacrifice. This sparked my interest in Mesoamerican culture and other cultures worldwide. I discovered that I loved learning about different cultures and their perspectives, such as how the Aztecs valued a life of purpose rather than fleeting happiness, or how the Sami people valued practical and observational-based learning. I discovered that I wanted to meet people from different backgrounds in my community and learn about their struggles, which is why I started focusing on how my life is shaped as an African American. I discovered how racism can be institutional, even in the modern era, and many people only focus on racism on the individual level. For example, when the Flint water crisis occurred, it disproportionately affected black residents and led to serious health repercussions. Despite making up a portion of the population, minorities are more likely to be incarcerated, come from low-income families, and be denied opportunities. In institutions like healthcare, certain groups are less likely to receive adequate services. Even in the media we consume, non-white people are usually reduced to supporting roles or stereotypical tropes. News media, especially, depict certain groups as more dangerous than others, encouraging negative stereotypes. Racism is deeply rooted in our country, which is clear from how Natives were put onto reservations. African Americans were also forced into slavery to help build America. However, it is less known that Irish people (who weren’t considered white at the time) were mistreated and made into indentured servants. Racism is even woven into the most innocent-seeming actions, like how people use the expression “mumbo jumbo” without knowing that the phrase was created to mock Africans. This highlights a big issue with racism and minority oppression, which is that few people are educated on the complexity. I’ve heard people talk about what liberation from oppression looks like, but not about what it doesn’t look like. I believe this is crucial to figure out how to stop oppression and move forward. We should look at how minorities are affected beyond an individual level, how the media we consume contributes to racism, and ask, “What does securing generational liberation from oppression not look like?” In an Ashanti proverb, "If I go backwards, I die; if I go forward, I die; it’s better to just go forward.”

My teenage self was confused as to why I was arguing with my teacher about why murder is wrong. We were discussing the Aztecs and their tradition of human sacrifices. I thought it was clear that killing people every day wasn’t okay, but my teacher argued that from their perspective, the world would end if they did not continue with human sacrifice. This sparked my interest in Mesoamerican culture and other cultures worldwide. I discovered that I loved learning about different cultures and their perspectives, like how the Aztec people valued a life of purpose rather than fleeting happiness, or how the Sami people valued practical and observational-based learning. This allowed me to discover that I wanted to meet people from different backgrounds in my community and learn more about their struggles, which is one reason I went into social work. In social work, learning and understanding people from different cultural backgrounds is important as we live in a diverse country where individual bias and systematic ignorance have historically and are currently harming minorities. We need more social workers who are culturally competent and open-minded to people from different backgrounds, so these people can be understood and can get help for their unique struggles. This is important to me personally because I’m a part of a minority group and learned, when I was younger, how my race puts me at more of a disadvantage. In my earlier years, I also learned how to assist others in my community. My mother and I would sometimes volunteer to help pass out water bottles at the Bethel United Methodist Church to Flint residents. Also, in my senior year of high school, I interned at the Flint Community Lab to test the water of Flint residents while being a member of the national honor society and a peer mentor for students in my school with disabilities. All these experiences helped me discover that I wanted to become a social worker. After graduating from high school as salutatorian, I enrolled in Mott Community College to get my associate's degree. Once I graduate from Mott, I will transfer to the University of Michigan-Flint for my bachelor’s degree in social work. I would need financial aid to transfer because it’s a four-year university, and the refund checks I received from my financial aid at Mott have almost been burned through by my mother because working nonstop is not enough to pay the bills. With my degree, I can be a case worker. As a case worker, I can advocate for my community, refer them towards resources, and set plans of recovery for struggles. When I gain enough experience from being a case worker, I’ll be eligible to take the Michigan Social Work licensure exam. I want to become a licensed social worker so I can have the range to provide services to the people in my community, including therapy, clinical services, schools, government agencies, and influence policy change, and this scholarship will help me achieve my goal.