Because of my Hamilton phase, I've listened to the Hamilton soundtrack more times than I can count. Not only have I watched it on Disney +, but two years ago I was given the opportunity to see it in person. Despite knowing the words and the entire story it took a recent listen to the soundtrack for it to have an impact on the way I think about my own life. The song “The Room Where it Happens” displays the jealousy that Burr has towards Hamilton. Rather than just hearing the lyrics, this time I truly understood them. I listened and came to love the lyricism of the song but began to reflect as Hamilton sings, “ you get love for it/ You get hate for it/ But you get nothing if you (wait for it)”. I thought “Wow, it seems so simple but has such an impact!” But as the song goes on he then says, “If you stand for nothing then what’ll you fall for?” This is what really made me stop and think. While the song continued, I had flash backs through moments of my life and continued to ponder on this one lyric. “If you stand for nothing then what’ll you fall for?” Even though most of the time I hate to admit it, I have a fear of failure. I always seem to stop myself from doing something because of the uncertainties that would come with it. I somehow convince myself to not do it no matter how badly I wanted to in the first place. The fear of failure was stronger than my urge to take on a new opportunity. So at that moment, I decided every time I would think “What if…?”, I would replace it with “If you stand for nothing then what’ll fall for?” I thought, "If I don't try then I won't fail." but I came to realize I can't thrive either. By being overly cautious of everything, I won't have anything to learn from nor will I have experiences to talk about. The people in this world who have made an impact did so because they weren’t afraid to put out ideas that were seen as crazy. I can’t be worried about failing if I’m not willing to try to succeed. The chance of failure is of course always going to exist but allowing that fear to get to me before I even start means that I have already failed.

Being the child of Ghanaian parents meant that the importance of education was always stressed to us starting from a young age. Fortunately, I was lucky that my mother had always paid attention to what I was good at and encouraged me to continue to get better at it. She would refuse to let me slack off as she believed that I would become something great. I have a passion for writing. I attend the University of Rochester and I want to complete my bachelors degree in English (more specifically communications and journalism) and have a minor in business marketing. I not only want to have a career that I enjoy but also allows me to be creative. It was in third grade where I was first given an assignment to write my own installment in the Magic Treehouse series from my teacher. I had so much fun with this assignment and put in so much effort into the story, title, and even the pictures within the book. This was when I initially discovered my passion for writing and while many kids dreamed of becoming actors or singers, I wanted to become a famous author. After a few years of losing that passion, I have recently rediscovered my love for writing and storytelling and want to pursue a career in writing whether it’s journalism or pursuing my childhood dream of having a published book. I want my writing to not only impact other people, but also inspire others who want to pursue a higher education or go into a career similar to mine. I would love to be able to uplift and mentor other youth to achieve their goals like I will. One day, I want to get to a point in my life where I can give back to not only my family, but also my community. Within the past few years I've learned, and first hand seen the discrepancies between lower income neighborhoods and the disadvantages they face academically or just having a place to go for extra support. While there are places like the boys and girls club they're not accessible to many people as they are either expensive or only available to certain age groups. I hope in the future, I'm able to use my experiences and knowledge to help other children and teens who could benefit from a community program, especially first generation students like me.

My name is Stacey. My family is from Ghana (where I was born) from there, we moved to New York and eventually found our way to Connecticut. Being the child of Ghanaian parents meant that the importance of education was always stressed to us. Fortunately, I was lucky that my mother had always paid attention to what I was good at and encouraged me to continue to get better at it. She would refuse to let me slack off as she believed that I would become something great. I have a passion for writing. I attend the University of Rochester and I want to complete my bachelors degree in English (more specifically communications and journalism) and have a minor in business marketing. I not only want to have a career that I enjoy but also allows me to be creative. It was in third grade where I was first given an assignment to write my own installment in the Magic Treehouse series from my teacher. I had so much fun with this assignment and put in so much effort into the story, title, and even the pictures within the book. This was when I initially discovered my passion for writing and while many kids dreamed of becoming actors or singers, I wanted to become a famous author. After a few years of losing that passion, I have recently rediscovered my love for writing and storytelling and want to pursue a career in writing whether it’s journalism or pursuing my childhood dream of having a published book. I want my writing to not only impact other people, but also inspire others who want to pursue higher education or go into a career similar to mine. I would love to be able to uplift and mentor other youth to achieve their goals like I will. Granting me this scholarship will allow me to continue my education and relieve the stress of my college tuition and student loans. My mother is currently in nursing school which she has to pay out of pocket because she is not able to get financial aid. Originally we had plans of how we would pay for college, but unexpected circumstances had come up. With my father no longer working, we don’t have the money that we thought we would. My parents also support my grandmother as she had recently had brain surgery and continues to receive treatments, along with supporting my other two siblings. I currently work part-time over the school year and work over the summer and winter breaks to help support myself through school. But I mostly rely on student loans to pay my tuition. As the first child, and a first-generation student, I have to be very independent because even though my parents want to do everything they can to help me they are completely clueless. Although it was very hard, I learned how to be independent and assertive which has made me the person that I am today.

Being the child of Ghanaian parents meant that the importance of education was always stressed to us starting from a young age. Fortunately, I was lucky that my mother had always paid attention to what I was good at and encouraged me to continue to get better at it. She would refuse to let me slack off as she believed that I would become something great. I have a passion for writing. I attend the University of Rochester and I want to complete my bachelors degree in English (more specifically communications and journalism) and have a minor in business marketing. I not only want to have a career that I enjoy but also allows me to be creative. It was in third grade where I was first given an assignment to write my own installment in the Magic Treehouse series from my teacher. I had so much fun with this assignment and put in so much effort into the story, title, and even the pictures within the book. This was when I initially discovered my passion for writing and while many kids dreamed of becoming actors or singers, I wanted to become a famous author. After a few years of losing that passion, I have recently rediscovered my love for writing and storytelling and want to pursue a career in writing whether it’s journalism or pursuing my childhood dream of having a published book. I want my writing to not only impact other people, but also inspire others who want to pursue a higher education or go into a career similar to mine. I would love to be able to uplift and mentor other youth to achieve their goals like I will. I am a part of my school's Her Campus chapter. I am a part of the editorial team with my other chapter members to brainstorm article ideas and write articles for our school’s section of Her Campus. I also work in my school’s theater props and set department where I help to create, build, and set up scenes and props for each of my school's shows throughout the year. This past semester I joined the acapella group Trebellious, on my college campus. I had never done acapella but wanted to learn so decided to join. This summer I am a public relations intern for Distinguished Young Women, an organization I participated in my senior year of high school that provides scholarships to high school seniors. Through this internship, I have learned how to write a press release, worked on social media marketing and everything that goes into press and planning for an event. This upcoming semester I will be the secretary of an organization on my campus called the D’lions. It's job is to welcome freshman to campus and plan events for residents on my floor in order to create a sense of community and participate in community service projects. I want to get to a point in my life where I can give back to not only my family, but also my community. Within the past few years I've learned, and first hand seen the discrepancies between lower income neighborhoods and the disadvantages they face academically or just having a place to go for extra support. While there are places like the boys and girls club they're not accessible to many people as they are either expensive or only available to certain age groups. I hope in the future, I'm able to use my experiences and knowledge to help other children and teens who could benefit from a community program, especially first generation students like me.

Being the child of Ghanaian parents meant that the importance of education was always stressed to us starting from a young age. Fortunately, I was lucky that my mother had always paid attention to what I was good at and encouraged me to continue to get better at it. She would refuse to let me slack off as she believed that I would become something great. I have a passion for writing. I attend the University of Rochester and I want to complete my bachelors degree in English (more specifically communications and journalism) and have a minor in business marketing. I not only want to have a career that I enjoy but also allows me to be creative. It was in third grade where I was first given an assignment to write my own installment in the Magic Treehouse series from my teacher. I had so much fun with this assignment and put in so much effort into the story, title, and even the pictures within the book. This was when I initially discovered my passion for writing and while many kids dreamed of becoming actors or singers, I wanted to become a famous author. After a few years of losing that passion, I have recently rediscovered my love for writing and storytelling and want to pursue a career in writing whether it’s journalism or pursuing my childhood dream of having a published book. I want my writing to not only impact other people, but also inspire others who want to pursue a higher education or go into a career similar to mine. I would love to be able to uplift and mentor other youth to achieve their goals like I will. I also want to get to a point in my life where I can give back to not only my family, but also my community. Within the past few years I've learned, and first hand seen the discrepancies between lower income neighborhoods and the disadvantages they face academically or just having a place to go for extra support. While there are places like the boys and girls club they're not accessible to many people as they are either expensive or only available to certain age groups. I hope in the future, I'm able to use my experiences and knowledge to help other children and teens who could benefit from a community program, especially first generation students like me.

My name is Stacey. My family is from Ghana (where I was born) and from there, we moved to New York and eventually found our way to Waterbury. My goal is to travel and to see the world. My family has never really been able to do much traveling because we couldn’t afford it, but I’ve always told myself that when I reach the success that I want, I would take my mom on her dream vacation. The best thing about this world is that there are so many countries, people, and cultures. More than anything I want to experience it as much as possible. I have a passion for writing and want to study English (journalism) and business. I not only want to have a career that I enjoy and allow me to be creative. It was in third grade where I was first given an assignment to write my own installment in the Magic Treehouse series from my teacher. I had so much fun with this assignment and put in so much effort into the story, title, and even the pictures within the book. This was when I initially discovered my passion for writing and while many kids dreamed of becoming actors or singers, I wanted to become a famous author. After a few years of losing that passion, I have recently rediscovered my love for writing and storytelling and want to pursue a career in writing whether it’s journalism or pursuing my childhood dream of having a published book. I also want to get to a point in my life where I can give back to not only my family, but also my community. Within the past few years I've learned, and first hand seen the discrepancies between lower income neighborhoods and the disadvantages they face academically or just having a place to go for extra support. While there are places like the Boys and Girls Club they're not accessible to many people as they are either expensive or only available to certain age groups. I hope in the future, I'm able to use my experiences and knowledge to help other children and teens who could benefit from a community program, especially first generation students like me.

I walked towards the couch to grab the remote. Relaxed, I eagerly wanted to watch the next episode of “Pretty Little Liars”. I grabbed the remote and walked towards the couch. But before I could make it, I feel a swift pull on my foot and down I went. Feeling the burning on my knees I kick my leg back in retaliation. I looked back afraid I may have hurt her from the whining sounds followed by laughter after she grabbed the remote from my hands and ran away with the remote. Angrily, I sat down admitting defeat. At seven years old, the thought of having a sister was exciting. On my birthday I was called out of my class and to my surprise, I saw my dad and little brother at the office to tell me my sister was born. We went to the hospital to see my mom and the baby. Three days later, I came home from school and there was my mom on the couch and my sister in her crib sleeping. Throughout the years, having a little sister with the same birthday started to seem less exciting. Her over the top personality and “adorable” features made her the center of attention. As she got older, she got louder and crazier. Screaming when she didn't get her way and attacking anyone who got in her way. Our faces were similar but our personalities differed. The older we got, the more she made it her goal to control me and if she couldn't do that, TEST MY PATIENCE AS MUCH AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE. To others, it looks like we hate each other but for us, it’s a normal way of communicating. Having siblings has made me self aware. I’ve realized how stupid I was being by watching the behaviors of my sister and her friends. As I watched her push around people who angered her, it brought me back to pushing a boy that angered me in second grade. She walked around with her friends thinking they were grown and “popular”. I questioned the way she acted, only to realize that even though at her age I wasn't NEARLY as brave enough to talk to my mom the way she did, I had the same thoughts. Although we’re very different, our differences motivate each other as we’ve both borrowed each other's personality traits and became competitive. She became very determined and I’ve taken on her traits of honesty after feeling like I was being walked over, I started standing up for myself. Being the oldest of three kids, and having parents that are constantly working, I had to learn to be responsible and take care of my siblings and myself. Taking on this role, made me the person I am today. Having a sister that was stubborn and annoyed the crap out me made me realize my own mistakes and annoying habits. I learned to be aware of myself and my surroundings and learned to control my emotions and behavior. Seeing the way my sister acted, made me realize my own immaturity and the way I treat myself and others. As I watched my sister grow, I’ve realized her actions matched up with some of my behaviors at her age. Thanks to my sister’s strange yet bold personality and her amazing ability to irritate anyone she comes into contact with, I have been able to become more self-aware by watching some of my behaviors through her. Because of her, I’ve become the least annoying person ever.