Neither of my biological parents attended college; both were dual-diagnosis with mental illness and addiction issues. They split up before I was born; and when I was 6, my mom took up with another man just as troubled. The first 7 years of my life were particularly chaotic. I was kept largely hidden away - no doctors, no dentists, no school enrollment. My mom got pregnant with the man she'd met, and they married a couple months before the baby was due. My mom didn't want to have the baby in the hospital but didn't tell anyone her plans for a home birth. I ended up delivering my little sister and cutting the cord, while my new step-dad just panicked. I was 7 years old. Five weeks later, one night my mom and the stepdad kept fighting. Police came out multiple times and eventually child welfare was brought in. Both my infant sister and I were removed and placed separately into kinship foster homes. Child welfare discovered the full extent of the neglect and abuse I'd been subjected to. I started 1st grade at the academic level of a 3-year-old. It took nearly 2 1/2 years for parental rights to be terminated, with numerous failed parent-child visitations, court dates, etc. I was adopted by an older single woman. I found my passion was working with the underdog - literally. At age 9, I was volunteering with the SPCA. I was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for volunteerism by President Biden after I provided over 8,000 hours of volunteer time. The SPCA then hired me part-time while I was in 10th grade. I graduated high school with a 3.4 GPA (with honors classes in English, History and Sciences) and still work part-time for the SPCA, but am also working part-time for a specialty dog trainer. I had planned to start college at West Chester University but had to drop a week before classes were to start as I did not have the funds needed. I found that the most cost-effective way for me to earn college credit is through Study.com with a transfer to either Excelsior or Thomas Edison University. Additionally, the flexibility offered through online courses allows me to juggle the two part-time jobs I now hold. I started the online courses in August 2025 and have already completed nearly twenty 3-credit courses, with a goal of earning a degree by August 2027. I have two goals: one is to become a specialty dog trainer and the other is possibly pursuing a career in law enforcement as a K-9 officer. I will need a four-year college degree to pursue a K-9 position in law enforcement. This scholarship would allow me to pursue my degree plans, without incurring significant debt. I also don't want to burden my adoptive mom with high tuition bills; I know she is in her 60's and trying to save up to be able to retire someday and struggling as a single person.

Most people have faced challenges in their life, and I have had my share of challenges in my personal journey. I was born in 2006 to unmarried drug-addicted parents who had split up before I was born. I weighed less than four pounds at birth, likely due to neonatal drug exposure. During the next seven years, my mother remained relatively unstable, relying on a combination of friends and family to finance her lifestyle, much of which she was able to hide from prying eyes. When I should have been able to attend kindergarten, my mother enrolled me in cyber school but never actually did anything to ensure any education for me. I was expelled for truancy when I was just five years old. My mom moved out of the school district and never told the new school district I existed and married a man who, like her, was dual-diagnosis – mental health issues and drug/alcohol addiction. Both of them had violent streaks. By the time I was six, I knew which belts hurt less when I “earned” a beating, such as for wetting the bed at night; hiding their tequila bottles; or flushing the toilet after relieving myself and thereby “disturbing” them while they were “chilling”. It took a night of massive arguments in May 2013 between my mom and stepdad, with the police coming out multiple times, before my life changed. That was the night that child welfare came out. After assessing the condition of the house and photographing me, with bruises and everything, they determined that I needed to be removed immediately for my safety. At that point, I was 7 ½ years old, operating at the level of a 3-year-old academically. I did not know the difference between letters and numbers and could not read my own name. I was placed in a kinship foster care home in 2013. What followed was nearly three traumatizing years of caseworkers trying to get either parent to be “safe enough” for me to be reunified with them, while I struggled to get caught up academically. In 2015 the caseworkers and court agreed that neither parent would ever be safe and their parental rights were terminated. My kinship foster parent, a single woman, adopted me in 2016. My biological father died from an overdose later that year. My biological mother's husband - my ex-step-father -likewise overdosed in 2023. All of the above left me with trauma and multiple challenges. Some children in school weren't allowed to play with me once their parents found out about my history. Because I started so far behind, some called me stupid. My adoptive mom has done her best as a parent, but she is only one person and our resources are limited. A shining area for me is animals, specifically dog training. I learned a lot by volunteering over 8,000 hours at our local animal shelter. Using my education, I plan to make a difference in a variety of ways, including potentially becoming a K-9 police officer and believe I would be able to easily connect with victims of abuse/domestic violence because of my history. I also am training dogs, working with a very experienced trainer. One of the dogs I trained was certified as a therapy dog to comfort others, such as hospital patients. I have also co-trained two service dogs to assist their owners with their disabilities. A liberal arts degree will enhance the skills I need for business, psychology, and entrepreneurial skills.

Sometimes I feel like my life has been nothing but obstacles, but I also know that I am very fortunate. Both of my bio-parents had mental health issues and substance addictions. My mom did not seek prenatal care for me and I was born weighing under 4 pounds. They never sent me to school, but I knew which belt would hurt the least when I was being punished. By the time child welfare removed me from the parental home and put me in a foster home, I was 7 years old and operating at the academic level of a 3-year-old. My newborn half-sister was accepted by her biological father's family. I was not. I got to see her one last time. The school district where I was placed put me into first grade, even though I wasn't prepared. My classmates thought I was "stupid" and must have "failed kindergarten". No, I just never had the opportunity before then to learn anything, but kids can be cruel. When my foster parent would pick me up from school or attend class functions, they could see that she wasn't my mom. I'm black and she's white. And she's a lot older than their moms, so they kept asking me why some old white woman was always pretending to be my parent. Those were hard years with my classmates. Child welfare spent the next 2 1/2 years trying to get either parent to be safe enough for me to be returned to before realizing it wouldn't happen. Parents rights were terminated and I was adopted to an older single mom. My bio-dad subsequently died from a drug overdose. My bio-mom reportedly has stage 4 cancer now. My foster mom adopted me, but doesn't have a college fund for me. But she did support me to follow my passion and helped me to become a volunteer at the local SPCA. They later hired me part-time. I graduated from high school in June 2025 and was accepted to the local college (West Chester University) but had to decline when there was no scholarship money. That was hard - the school is literally 10 minutes away from home and I can't afford to attend there. I don't have the $12,300 that I would need each year for school. I have three main career goals, including to become a K9 police officer. For that, I will need a college degree. To help reduce the total cost of a college education, I am taking online courses through Study.com ($125/month subscription for lower level courses and $250/month for upper-level courses). My plan now is to transfer as many credits as possible to a partner school (Excelsior, Thomas Edison or Southern New Hampshire) which will keep the overall cost low, especially if I can complete three year's worth of credits first. I am asking for help to continue my education so that I can achieve my goals. I am working part-time, which mostly just covers my vehicle expenses.

For me, attending college means opportunity. Opportunity to improve skills that will help me in my current part-time careers of dog training and animal shelter work, but more importantly, to meet the educational requirements to become a K9 law enforcement officer. It also means opportunity to be a productive member of society, something neither of my biological parents ever achieved as a result of their substance addictions. After years of extreme neglect and abuse, I was removed from their care by the state when I was 7 years old; my younger half-sibling went to her Hispanic relatives, who opted not to take me in - possibly because I am black, not Hispanic. After several years of foster care, the state determined I'd never be safe with either of them. My parents rights were terminated and I was adopted out. My bio-dad died by overdose.; my bio-mom reportedly has stage 4 cancer. Despite my rough beginnings - I weighed under 4 pounds at birth and was subjected to physical, emotional, educational and medical neglect and abuse for the first 7 years of my life, and then nearly 3 more years of trauma while child welfare tried to reunify me with "whichever parent appears safe first", I am determined to follow my passions and achieve my goals. My adoptive parent guided me to follow my passion: working with animals. By age 9, I was the first Junior Volunteer at our local SPCA; by age 16 (10th grade), the SPCA hired me part-time. I have three primary career goals. First, to elevate my dog training skills as well as business, marketing and psychology skills. Gaining those skills can be accomplished by taking relevant college courses. I love handling the tough dogs, the ones with behavioral challenges. Second, to pursue certification in animal welfare as a Humane Law Officer, with the ability to respond and investigate claims of animal neglect and abuse. Many employers require a college degree for this position. Third, to pursue a career in law enforcement as the human partner in a K9 unit. Typically, K9 law enforcement officer roles are very competitive and having a college degree is required. All of the above are reasons why a college degree is important to me. However, I do not have the money to attend college. I was actually accepted to West Chester University (WCU) for the fall of 2025, but had to decline enrollment due to lack of funds. Tuition and fees, even for a commuting student such as I would have been, was $12,000/year. While I am working, most of my earnings is used to pay for my vehicle expenses (car payment, gas, maintenance, insurance, etc.). I was adopted out of the child welfare system just before I turned 10 years old and my state does not provide any assistance to ex-foster kids adopted out prior to age 16. My adoptive parent is an older single individual without the ability to provide college funding. For now, I am taking college credit courses online at Study.com and planning to transfer to a 4-year college when I have enough funds and transferable credits. I will need to upgrade to the $250/month subscription very soon to access upper-level college courses and need funding to do so. I am asking for your financial support through this scholarship. In 2015, an SPCA administrator took a chance on me for the SPCA, creating a Junior Volunteer program. That program now has well over 100 volunteer youth. In 2025, I am asking for you to take a chance on me to support my educational and career goals.

HOW THE ANIMAL ADVOCATES MERIT AWARD RELATES TO MY CAREER AND EDUCATIONAL PLANS I have been working part-time at the Brandywine Valley SPCA since fall of 2022, when I started 10th grade. Since graduating from Rustin High School in June 2025 with a 3.4 GPA, I have also taken on a second part-time job with The Cultured Canine as a board-and-train (B&T) dog trainer. Undertaking a liberal arts college program, including a combination of psychology and business courses, will provide the foundation I need to develop both my business skills as well as strengthen my skills in managing difficult clients. I have observed that the customer service skills that I developed in the shelter environment are useful in general, but there are distinct differences between shelter customers who come in to find an adoptable pet vs. dog owners who have dog(s) needing training. The former is more of a transactional interaction, while the latter requires developing a long-term client relationship based on trust, respect, and confidence and having a better understanding of client psychology. I have three primary career goals. First, to elevate my dog training skills as well as business, marketing and psychology skills. Gaining those skills can be accomplished by taking the relevant courses without necessarily pursuing a college degree. I love handling the tough dogs, the ones with behavioral challenges. Every dog teaches me something new, but also, every dog that I can train and remediate unwanted behaviors is a dog that is less likely to be surrendered into the animal welfare system. In short, while I have spent a decade working either as a volunteer or employee in the shelter, I see the opportunity to prevent unnecessary animal surrenders by offering training to prevent those surrenders from needing to happen. Working in the shelter environment is very reactionary-based; working with owners on the cusp of giving up is taking proactive, preventative action. Second, to pursue certification in animal welfare as a Humane Law Officer, with the ability to respond and investigate claims of animal neglect and abuse. Many employers require a college degree for this position. Third, to pursue a career in law enforcement as the human partner in a K9 unit. Typically, K9 law enforcement officer roles are very competitive, and having a college degree is often required. One significant challenge to these goals is the cost of education. Although I was accepted to several colleges, including the local state university (West Chester University - WCU), I am not able to afford the cost of tuition. I had planned to attend as a commuter student, as WCU is just ten minutes away from home, but even then, I would have needed $12,000/year out of pocket. I found another path to earning college credit HOW MY PERSONAL JOURNEY, EDUCATION GOALS AND PASSION FOR ANIMAL WELFARE CONNECT Most people have faced challenges in their life, and I have had my share of challenges in my personal journey. I was born in 2006, to drug-addicted parents who had split up before I was born. I weighed less than four pounds at birth, likely due to neonatal drug exposure. During the next seven years, my mother remained relatively unstable, relying on a combination of friends and family to finance her lifestyle, much of which she was able to hide from prying eyes. When I should have been able to attend kindergarten, my mother enrolled me in cyber school but never actually did anything to ensure any education for me. I was expelled for truancy when I was just five years old. My mom moved out of the school district and never told the new school district I existed and married a man who, like her, was dual-diagnosis – mental health issues and drug/alcohol addiction. Both of them had violent streaks. By the time I was six, I knew which belts hurt less when I “earned” a beating, such as for wetting the bed at night; hiding their tequila bottles; or flushing the toilet after relieving myself and thereby “disturbing” them while they were “chilling”. I had learned that people might smile and say one thing to your face but lie and do something entirely different. I’d also learned that animals never lie. Their body language tells you exactly what they are thinking. Accordingly, I grew up trusting animals, and my ability to read them, far more than I trusted people. The neighbors would sometimes call when they heard my parents fighting or heard me screaming. My stepfather ensured I would lie to the police to prevent them from coming in – a classic excuse he had me recite was “I’m sorry, my parents aren’t home, I had the TV on too loud and bothered the neighbors”. While I wanted to tell the police the truth, my stepdad told me if the police came in, he would kill my mother or one of my dogs – he often was hiding in the next room, with a knife to the throat of either my mom or one of my dogs. One of the few bright spots in my daily life was our pets, including several dogs, cats, and a fishtank. I recognized that they were victims in that sad house, just as much as I was. While some little children have a favorite blanket or stuffed toy to cuddle when they want comforting, I turned to my actual living, breathing animals: Milky Way, Gaga, and Sebastian were favorites. Another bright spot was when a relative would sometimes be given permission to take me for a day, or even a weekend. Of course, I was counseled by my mom and stepdad to not tell anyone about “private family things”. Those brief excursions sometimes included shadowing as a volunteer at the Delaware County SPCA, where the staff quickly learned that I knew how to approach fearful animals and to help socialize them around children my age. The benefit to me was that it gave me a huge self-esteem boost, knowing that I was helping animals so that they could have a chance of adoption. As far as my education, whenever questions were raised by friends or family, they were told that I was being “home-educated” and that the school district had approved the plan. Of course, that wasn’t true at all. My mom and step-dad had no intention of ever letting me become educated. It took a night of massive arguments in May 2013 between my mom and stepdad, with the police coming out multiple times, before my life changed. That was the night that child welfare came out. After assessing the condition of the house and photographing me, with bruises and everything, they determined that I needed to be removed immediately for my safety. At that point, I was 7 ½ years old, operating at the level of a 3-year-old academically. I did not know the difference between letters and numbers and could not read my own name. I was placed in a kinship foster care home in 2013 and formally adjudicated into Pennsylvania foster care as a ward of the state. What followed was nearly three traumatizing years of caseworkers trying to get either parent to be “safe enough” for me to be reunified with them, while I struggled to get caught up academically. I can tell you that the child welfare system, aka the foster care system, needs significant improvement. In 2015, case workers agreed that it would never be safe for me to return to either of my parents and all parental rights were terminated. My foster parent was legally permitted to advocate for me to volunteer at the animal shelter near our home. They did not allow minor children to volunteer at that time, but my foster parent was relentless, providing proof of similar “Junior Volunteer” programs at other shelters. Finally, one of the top administrators agreed to give me a “job interview” to become a shelter volunteer! The stakes were high though, because Julie, the administrator, informed me that the interview would consist of two parts. First, a verbal interview assessing my maturity and general behavior. If I passed that, we would proceed into the dog kennels, where my dog handling skills would be assessed as well. If I passed both parts… she agreed that she would start a limited Junior Volunteer program, with me as the first child – and a guinea pig to start the program. If I failed the interview, the program would not even start. If I passed the interviews, the program would start – but continuing it, as I would be the first, would be based on my success or failure. No pressure! Seriously, while the stakes were high, I’d been through much worse pressure in my original parental home. And my foster parent was rock solid certain about my animal handling skills. I passed the verbal interview. I passed the dog handling tests in the kennels. The Junior Volunteer program was launched. For weeks, I was the ONLY child volunteering at the shelter. The shelter behaviorist even told me that he trusted ME far more with shelter dogs than he trusted some adult volunteers! Then word began to spread, and the program grew. I was a role model for other children in the program. Some of the children (and their parents) quickly found out that the shelter experience isn’t always rosy. It’s not always just cuddly kittens and fluffy puppies… sometimes it is hard work, both mentally and physically. Because I’d already been through so much, I was able to help some of the other child volunteers work through some of the more difficult parts of shelter work. However, it most certainly isn’t for everyone. There is no sugarcoating it; fostering a medically at-risk litter of neonate kittens and seeing them succumb to fading kitten syndrome despite everyone’s best efforts is simply heartbreaking. Not everyone is able to grieve that loss and then pick themselves back up and continue volunteering, but some can. For me, this was a win-win, all the way around. My self-esteem, damaged from my early years of neglect and abuse, improved. I was making a difference by working with animals, especially those that were nervous around children, helping them to become comfortable with “mini adult humans”. I felt a kind of camaraderie with some of the most vulnerable animals that came into the shelter. I knew how to approach them gently yet confidently, and not feed into their fears. The shelter became a second home for me and long-term adult staff became unofficial “family”. A.J. became my “shelter dad”, and Francis became my “shelter granddad”. The more I volunteered, the more tasks I was trusted to handle and my animal handling skillset grew. By 2021, I had over 8,000 documented volunteer hours at the Brandywine Valley SPCA. I was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Presidential Volunteer Service Program, signed by President Biden. In 2022, the Brandywine Valley SPCA hired me as a part-time kennel assistant. The job title does not begin to describe the tasks and responsibilities that I have performed; I’ve met police at accident scenes to retrieve injured animals, behaviorally rehabilitated dogs from fighting rings, medically rehabbed dogs after having a limb amputated, met fosters in the middle of the night for emergency care, and when necessary, performed humane euthanasia with a veterinarian guiding me over the phone in the middle of the night. And I still continue to foster animals at home as a volunteer. Now, it’s 2025 - ten years later. There are over 150 registered Junior Volunteers, supporting the shelter by walking dogs, cleaning kennels, fostering animals at home, taking adoptable animals out for the community to see, providing enrichment and performing so many other tasks. The number of children over the past decade that have volunteered in the program; the number of parents who also volunteered because their children could volunteer; and the number of animals that all those individuals have helped over the past ten years is incalculable and mentally staggering. The Brandywine Valley SPCA typically has over 5,000 animals pass through their doors every year. All because one foster parent believed in me enough to pester an SPCA administrator to give me a chance when I was just 9 years old to volunteer. Now, I am asking for you to give me a chance by selecting me for this scholarship. ANIMAL WELFARE PASSION - WHAT INSPIRED MY DEVOTION TO ANIMALS I can’t pinpoint any single moment that inspired my devotion to animals; rather, my passion and devotion to animal welfare has been shaped throughout my life. From being a neglected and abused child, to discovering that I have the power to help animals, and to make an impact in animal welfare – all of those moments have created and strengthened my passion for animal welfare. MY EDUCATION GOALS AND THE FINANCIAL CHALLENGE In addition to working part-time at the SPCA, I am working on a commission basis for The Cultured Canine as a board-and-train dog trainer. The pay is not enough to cover my basic expenses (car insurance, maintenance, car payments, gas, tolls, etc.) and to also pay for college. Just the tuition alone at the local state-supported university would require $12,000/year, which I do not have. That is why, after having accepted and enrolled at West Chester University, I needed to relinquish my seat. Further, now that I am working two part-time jobs while also training my own dogs, I have realized that the best approach for me would be to take online college courses that are offered asynchronously, giving me the flexibility to complete courses on my own schedule and pace while also juggling two part-time jobs. As you may have already surmised, I am not one to sit back and wait for the world to come to me. Rather than waiting for this academic year to go by without me doing anything to earn college credit, I found a way to earn college credit through an online course providing platform, Study.com, who partners with a number of accredited colleges and universities. In August 2025, I subscribed to Study.com’s lower-course level subscription model. For $125/month, I can enroll in two concurrent courses at a time. As soon as I complete a course, I can enroll in another course. The transferability of course credits will depend on which college I eventually transfer to. Currently, there are several schools that I am highly considering to transfer my Study.com credits to: Thomas Edison State University, Southern New Hampshire University, and Excelsior University (which I only did more research about AFTER I had made the video accompanying this application). At this time, I am tentatively planning on transferring the course credits to Excelsior University. Since August 2025, I have completed 18 3-credit courses that should be transferable to Excelsior for their Bachelor of Science in Liberal Arts degree program. My goal is to complete at least two more lower-level 3-credit courses by early February 2026. At that point, I will have subscribed to Study.com’s lower subscription for six months and I expect to have completed 60 transferable credits at a total cost of $750. That works out to $12.50/credit or $37.50/course – the most economical college credit option I could find. At that point, I will need to upgrade to Study.com’s higher-level subscription to access upper-level courses. Excelsior will allow me to transfer in up to 104 course credits. My plan is to complete another 15 3-credit courses at the upper level through Study.com over a five-month period. That upper level subscription will cost $250/month, or $1,250 for the five months. In short, by the time I am ready to transfer to Excelsior, I plan to have earned 105 credits at a total cost of $2,000 or even less, if I can keep on pace. This scholarship will help me to continue my studies through Study.com and prepare me to transfer to Excelsior University, possibly as soon as July 2026. Including tuition and per-credit fees, I anticipate each Excelsior credit to cost $528. With 16 credits to be completed at Excelsior, at current costs, I anticipate the remaining cost to be $8,448 plus books, so perhaps a total of $9,000. In short, between Study.com and Excelsior, I hope to earn my Bachelor’s degree at a total cost of $11,000, perhaps even less. Considering that is less than a single year of tuition at our local state university would have been, I believe that I have found the best way to use my limited financial resources wisely. Again, I am asking for your financial support through this scholarship. In 2015, an SPCA administrator took a chance on me for the SPCA, creating a Junior Volunteer program. In 2025, I am asking for you to take a chance on me to support my educational and career goals. Thank you in advance for your consideration.

I'm a recent high school graduate, with extensive volunteer experience with the SPCA, where I now work part-time. My original parents refused to enroll me in school when I was a child, add on other neglect and abuse, saying school was a bad place for bad kids. CPS put me in a foster-home when I was 7 1/2 and my foster mom enrolled me in school. When I started, I was at the educational level of a 3-year-old. I did not even know the alphabet or the difference between letters and numbers. Education changed the trajectory of my life. I learned to read, write, think and advocate for myself and then others, but the first few years of catching-up were extremely difficult. CPS terminated parental rights after years of trying to get either parent to be safe. I began volunteering with the SPCA in 2015 at age 9, eventually earning the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award from President Biden. Over the years, I have literally helped thousands of pets get adopted, have rehabilitated dogs from fighting rings and with other behavioral issues, cared for bottle-baby kittens and post-surgical animals needing in-home care, and assisted with emergency situations. I have provided testimony regarding animal conditions in neglect/cruelty cases to courts, collected decaying animals from hoarders and more. One of many reasons animals are surrendered to shelters is due to training/behavioral concerns. Often, surrendering is not necessary, if the owners had better access to training. For example, as a Girl Scout project, I took a dog who had been surrendered to the shelter as "worthless" and trained her - basic obedience, then Therapy Dog certification and gave her the foundation to become a service dog for a disabled individual, proving that "thrown-away" shelter dogs can be MUCH more than what people realize. I plan to make a positive impact in animal welfare and the lives of individuals with animals, by reducing animal surrenders and focusing on the intersection of veterinary concerns, canine training/behavior, and possibly law enforcement. To truly succeed, I will need a diverse education, incorporating college courses in business, communication, psychology, criminal justice, law enforcement, and canine behavior. I know I can rehabilitate and train dogs in multiple disciplines, beyond simple companion pet level. I have trained dogs to pass the AKC Good Canine Certification, Therapy Dog certification, Service Dog Basics and more recently, the Protective Sports Association Protection Dog Certification. But "dog training" and "animal welfare" is much more than just being able to work with a dog. I also am interested in becoming a K-9 law enforcement officer, which requires a college degree in most forces. Understanding the needs of the owner along with the potential capability of the dog is critical. But I also need the skills to clearly develop, document and communicate plans for training and behavioral remediation; to understand the psychology (and culture) of the dog's humans; to operate both within the non-profit and business world and to recognize potential legal issues. I was accepted to West Chester University for Fall 2025. Due to lack of funds, I am likely to defer starting college until I have a combination of savings and scholarships to cover the tuition. Because education is so important, I plan to earn college credit through an online platform (Study dot com). I can take 2 courses at a time for $95/month and then transfer those credits in. Girl Scouts (and life) taught me to use my limited resources wisely. It is my hope that I will be awarded enough scholarships that I can attend West Chester University. Thank you for your consideration.

Wicked is a fresh take on the classic Wizard of Oz story. Through the development of the characters, we - the audience - see how Glinda the Good and the Wicked Witch began as comparatively "ordinary" individuals (albeit with access to magic. As the story unfolds, we see that neither character was entirely good nor evil, but as a result of circumstances and choices, they become set upon the paths that eventually will place them at odds. The story also demonstrates how flawed it is to judge by appearance alone - the old adage of "don't judge a book by its cover" - is still good advice and yet, it is a lesson that so many people still need to learn. Prejudice and unwarranted bias still is rampant in our society. As a biracial female individual, I find I am frequently judged, often in a negative light, by others who are different than me. I have been in the home of a friend, to overhear my friend's grandmother, visiting from Uganda, tell her granddaughter, my friend, that because I am mixed-race and not 100% black, that I can't be trusted. I have been at a barn and told that I was not welcome there, but the only difference between other girls my age and I was that all of the others were white, while I am obviously not white. I work part-time at an animal shelter where we see people of all walks of life come in to adopt. Every person who comes in, I look at how they behave and what they actually say, to help them find the most appropriate animal as an adoption candidate for them. I have also adopted from the shelter, including dogs that were not otherwise considered adoptable. Two came from dog-fighting rings. Another was a failed hunting dog that had been dumped at a kill shelter. The people who had those dogs, and the typical pool of adopters, all failed to see those dogs as the individuals they are. They presumed that the dogs from the fighting ring would be vicious and unable to co-exist with other dogs. They were wrong. They presumed that the failed hunting dog, who had only ever lived in an outdoor pen, would not be able to live in a house. They were wrong. The dogs from the ring co-exist with my other dogs; the failed hunting dog became a certified therapy dog, going to hospitals and providing emotional support to those in need. That kind of transformation can only occur if everyone is viewed for WHO they are, not by generic characteristics that lend to prejudice. Having been at the receiving end of prejudice myself, I understand how important it is to judge each individual exactly as they actually are, rather than by prejudices. I try very hard to be the person I want to be. Or, as some others might say, I try hard to be the person my dogs would want me to be. The story of Wicked is a wonderful reminder about the pitfalls of prejudice, told in a fresh and creative manner.

While there are many issues facing the criminal justice system today, one issue which I have unfortunately personally experienced myself, is how the voices of child victims tend to be ignored, marginalized and/or discounted within the legal system. I was seven years old when I was removed from my parental home due to the living conditions. I'd been in my foster home for almost nine full months before I felt both safe enough and confident enough to begin informing the investigators about the neglect and abuse that I had experienced at the hands of my biological mother, father and stepfather. Yet the child welfare workers and the Guardian ad Litem (GAL) assigned to my case did not take what I said seriously. They told me that no matter what, I would be eventually "reunified" with whichever parent "appeared safe first". My experiences with my biological father were so bad that when I was informed that he had a right to see me and I did not have the ability to refuse, I still begged and cried not to have to see him. In our first "reunifying parent-child visitation" at a Chuckee-Cheese, I refused to acknowledge him, kept walking away from him and he stalked me, finally resorting to a barrage of insults and name-calling, humiliating me. I finally got so angry, that I turned around and snapped at him "You're a dumb poopy-head!" and stalked away again. The caseworker recorded that event as a POSITIVE interaction and as proof that I "care about father". I didn't care about him; I would have been just as angry with anyone repeatedly insulting me. My foster parent encouraged me to write a letter detailing my feelings and the experiences with each parent-figure that had created those feelings, about each of those adults. My foster parent sent copies of that letter to the investigating caseworker, her supervisor, the GAL, and to the Master of the court and was later reprimanded for doing so by the GAL. Thankfully, the Judge took my words seriously when none of the investigators did, nor did the GAL. My voice, as a child victim, FINALLY was heard by the judge, who denied my father's request for me to be sent to live with him immediately. It took two more years of the GAL and the caseworkers trying to "reunify" me with any parent before the agency finally understood and began to take my voice seriously. When I was in middle school, the boyfriend of a sports coach had "inappropriate contact" with me, which I reported. This time, the agencies involved did hear my voice. However, in court, the defense attorney did everything he could to attack my character. For example, at the time, I had been volunteering extensively at the SPCA - even that he twisted to say that anyone volunteering as much as me must have no friends. He also implied that any child who had been in foster care couldn't be trusted due to emotional damage. In the end, it was a hung jury; afterwards, several jurors told the District Attorney that while the jury "knew something had happened", that they didn't want to see a young man's life ruined over a "moment of poor decisions". My voice, as a 12-year-old vs. a 30-year-old man, was discounted by that jury. As a potential future police officer, I believe my experiences will enable me to be a better investigator, notice small details, to recognize when a child victim is telling the truth, and to help the child factually recount their experiences. While I was a minor myself, I had not been able to volunteer and work with child victims. However, I have been able to assist with SPCA investigations regarding neglect and abuse of animals, including accompanying Humane Law Enforcement on dog fighting investigations, hoarding cases, etc. fostering animals in protective custody, and providing my observations to the court. Clearly, the legal system with respect to child victims and animal victims has differences, but the key skills of investigating, observing and documenting those observations will serve me well in any law enforcement role.

It was a day late in May of my seventh year of life when multiple police officers and child welfare caseworkers arrived at my home. I was terrified as all of these strangers searched the house, separated me from my mother and stepfather, had me take my clothes off and photographed me, noting the various cuts and bruises I'd "earned" from when I was "bad" and had to be disciplined. The police had been out to my home before, several times, but they had always been convinced at the front door that nothing wrong was going on in the house. This time was different. The officers who came to the door were not willing to turn a blind eye as the ones who had been to the house before. I was immediately removed that day and placed in a kinship foster home. I was too frightened at the time to realize that the actions of the police and attention to detail that day likely saved my life. Attempts by child welfare to have either of my parents be considered "safe" failed; parental rights were terminated and I was adopted just as I was turning ten years old. Since then, my interactions with the police (through my part-time work at an animal shelter) have all been positive. Police routinely drop off lost/stray pets; they call us when they find evidence of dog fighting; or when a dog is injured and they are not able to safely handle an injured dog. It was the police who came to my new home to inform me that my paternal great-grandmother's body had been found after a wellness check. Police officers, as first responders, are in a unique position to notice details that others might miss. They are in a unique position to reduce crime and to save lives, sometimes without knowing they are doing so. I'm sure the police who helped remove me from my parental home could not know that the actions of my father and also my stepfather would later result in their deaths. I was spared being the brunt of their ongoing poor decisions, thanks to the officers that day in May who noticed details. One of my ultimate goals is to become a K-9 handler police officer. Besides noticing details, police officers need to stay calm during crisis events. Through my work at the shelter, I have found that I am quite capable of noticing details and handling emergencies. Reading body language - both of humans and canines - are critical skills at the shelter. When a colleague misread a dog and ended up being mauled as a result, I was the first person to intercede, secure the dog and get the colleague to the emergency room. I don't panic. Becoming a K-9 police officer would enable me to join two very distinct skill sets into a rewarding career. I routinely handle some of the toughest dogs at the shelter and am part of a Working Dog club. While I am certain there will be many days of routine paperwork and activities, I believe that there will those days where someday, I will be that police officer who notices a detail that may save the life of yet another victim of child neglect and abuse. I also believe that my experiences - as bad as they were - will serve me well to recognize the small details in situations that another police officer might overlook. I will be able to look a child in the eyes and say "I understand" because I have been where you are.