From the beginning of my life, I never had a family that was strong. A family is made strong through a number of factors. The most important one is, of course, love. You instantly think of unconditional love when you think of family. It is the first source of love you receive in your life. It teaches you the meaning of love which you carry on forever in your heart. I never had love and affection in the beginning stages of life because I had a struggling family that couldn't take care of me. I was born in the Bahamas and had two siblings. At a young age, my birth parents decided to give me up and I ended up in the Social Services system until I was adopted at almost 7 years old. I spent six years in an orphanage, where I suffered a lot of trauma. I was constantly abused physically, mentally and emotionally. To this day I’m still emotionally scarred, the pain and anger will always be in my heart. Despite all of that, I never let go of wanting to have a family to love me. I still always feel hurt looking back on, wondering if my birth parents actually loved me. When I got adopted, I finally felt the love and affection I deserved. The day I came to the United States, I experienced a big culture shock. I’m a black Bahamian immigrant, I was not used to seeing white people. The first day of school in the United States was scary because it was a totally different environment. I experienced racism and discrimination for the first time. All of this has led me to pursue law enforcement, hoping to change the injustice we see in the United States and the world.
Loyalty was big and still is big on me, feeling like no matter what happens, someone who loves you will be there, that's what everyone should always feel. As I've gotten older, my dream is to become a FBI special agent. This scholarship will help me to achieve that dream. I also aim to make a difference in my community, and this scholarship will absolutely be the difference-maker when it comes to pursuing the education I need to do that. I plan to give back to my community, this could mean by volunteering or being a mentor in the future. I plan on helping young kids get excited about becoming a police officer. I also plan on showing young minorities that it would be great for them to pursue law enforcement. There is little diversity in law enforcement, I feel like some minorities don't believe that becoming a police officer is possible because the majority is white. My degree in criminal justice will be a big step for me when it comes to my future goals after college. Winston Churchill once said, “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” And while I never define my obstacles as ‘failures,’ I mark my success by my repeated perseverance through adversity. To this day, I still suffer from anxiety and depression, I see a therapist. My therapist has helped me out a lot, I'm still here because of him and my family. I have faced several challenges over the years, from trauma to trust issues; yet I continued to keep going and trying to be the best person I can be. I will make a difference in the world because I have the strength and determination to achieve my goals, no matter what hurdles I have to overcome.