Simple barriers can change the direction of our lives. Dad was a good student throughout school. He got good grades, played basketball, and was fascinated with history. He wanted to be a priest when he was older. Dad would tell me later of this time the close connection he had with God and how passionate he was about sharing that with others to help them grow. However, he wasn’t able to become a priest because it required a bachelor’s degree, and due to his family’s income level, he entered the workforce and never pursued his dream. In young adulthood, Mom discovered a love of animals. She loved working with reptiles. She was very good at taking care of them and even had a few as pets, so she wanted to work as a zoo keeper. To be a zoo keeper, though, required a bachelor’s degree in biology. Being raised by a single mother who was deep in alcoholism, the funds to make this happen sadly weren’t there. Receiving this scholarship would be a step towards realizing a future for myself that my family wasn’t privileged to realize for themselves. Their dreams were permanently deferred because the cost presented a barrier to them. There’s a cycle within many families wherein low-income status isn’t breached and opportunities can be scarce. But I want to break that cycle, and I believe I can do that because first, I have more awareness of this cycle and am set on breaking it; second, I have an insatiable lust for life and education is a part of experiencing life in its wholeness; and third, there are more resources than ever with more accessibility for people like me to seek help in pursuing higher education. In the future, I'll use the experience and degree gained from higher education to help me succeed in my career financially and emotionally by opening more opportunities for me to pursue. I would leverage my financial success to support organizations that help people who need it, like those that help families of sick children pay for their medical bills, those that help victims of domestic abuse flee their dangerous situations, and those that help L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ youth see the value of their lives and the hope of the future. I’m personally involved in the last group. I’m a trans girl, and for almost a decade before understanding this, I struggled with having feelings I thought were wrong. I wanted to go to the pool in a one-piece, to wear girls’ clothing, and I felt that he/him pronouns didn’t match who I was. I feared I was a disappointment to my parents and God for this, and though wearing my sister’s old clothing in secret made me feel beautiful, I was ashamed because I thought I was doing something wrong. I came out to my parents at fourteen. I was lucky because some parents would have beaten me. Instead, they loved me, but struggled to understand and thought it would pass. I had to bear living as a boy for three and a half more years, which was excruciating for me. There were periods when I compartmentalized the pain to deal with it, but it always came back. I nearly attempted suicide on a few occasions. But I persevered to eighteen because I knew somewhere that something great was waiting for me. I never faltered in showing up for school, and now I can express the girl I am! Without this weight, I can truly enjoy life, and one way I will do that is to learn more and open doors for my future.