Hi, I'm Teja Taylor, I'm 19 years old and in the second semester of my sophomore year in college. I'm from the south side of Chicago, Illinois but I attend college in Southern Illinois at SIU Carbondale. Someone in my life and community that impacted my educational journey was a friend that passed away due to gun violence last year, Darion "Klay" Cherry. Growing up my group of friends fit the stereotypes of Chicago youth, ditching school, and "running the streets" for years. Even though Klay had decided to discontinue his education our sophomore year in high school, he always encouraged me to stay, supported me, and showed me, tough love, by getting angry when I ditched school with everybody else. Along with this, the day before I went away to college, he expressed to me how proud of me he was, told me to have fun for him, and explained how he wished he a different lifestyle and an opportunity to leave the city. In the end, we hugged and we never hugged each other, so I know he was truly proud. This is one of the last conversations I had with him before he passed because he passed away the next semester, while I was still away at school. I always felt the need to do well in school to prove to myself, friends, and family that I could do it and I've had other friends pass away recently. However, his passing lit a flame under me. Still to this day, I feel the need to not only graduate but to continue to get good grades in school for him because I knew this is what he would have wanted, for me to be successful in school and in life. So, I try my best to work and do well in school even when it gets hard to remain balanced and happy. Though I'm a first-generation college student on my father's side and struggling to stay afloat while at school with no help from my father. I have faith that going to school is eventually going to pay off for me and I want other students to have that same faith. I'm studying air traffic control with a Bachelor of Science in Aviation Management. Air Traffic Control is seen as a form of engineering, however, my degree can be used to get 10+ jobs in different areas such as aviation marketing, airline management, airfield operations, etc. I chose my area of study because I am genuinely interested in Aviation but I had to choose a job that would bring in enough income to afford to move to a safer city or suburb. The homes in the surrounding suburbs in Illinois are known to be expensive with even higher taxes. Along with this, I intend on using my income to start side businesses such as a truck driving company. These side businesses will provide jobs, and fund multiple non-profits for my community and cities around the world. The job will be supplied to my friends that don't plan on furthering their education past middle or high school. I also aim to use my career as an inspiration to get more POC to look into unconventional jobs such as Air Traffic Control, so they can potentially make more money. I plan to pay attention and network as much as possible to learn and come back home to spread all my knowledge, hopefully encouraging others to get better jobs or careers. Receiving this scholarship and hopefully others will increase my chances of achieving each goal above for myself and my community.

Hi, I'm Teja Taylor, I'm 19 years old and in the second semester of my sophomore year in college. I'm from the south side of Chicago, Illinois but I attend college in Southern Illinois at SIU Carbondale. I'm a first-generation college student on my father's side, so I am struggling to stay afloat while at school with no help from my father. However, I have faith that going to school is eventually going to pay off for me and I want other students to have that same faith. I'm studying air traffic control with a Bachelor of Science in Aviation Management. Air Traffic Control is seen as a form of engineering, however, my degree can be used to get 10+ jobs in different areas such as aviation marketing, airline management, airfield operations, etc. I chose my area of study because I am genuinely interested in Aviation but I had to choose a job that would bring in enough income to afford to move to a safer city or suburb. The homes in the surrounding suburbs in Illinois are known to be expensive with even higher taxes. Along with this, I intend on using my income to start side businesses such as a truck driving company. These side businesses will provide jobs, and fund multiple non-profits for my community and cities around the world. The job will be supplied to my friends that don't plan on furthering their education past high school. I also aim to use my career as an inspiration to get more POC to look into unconventional jobs such as Air Traffic Control, so they can potentially make more money. I plan to pay attention and network as much as possible to learn and come back home to spread all my knowledge, hopefully encouraging others to get better jobs or careers. Receiving this scholarship and hopefully others will increase my chances of achieving each goal above for myself and my community. My father and I have both taken out loans my previous 4 semesters to pay for school so far. I have to try my hardest to receive help from outside sources like scholarships and part-time jobs to help pay off living expenses and save up to pay off the loans. So, any amount helps.. Thanks for your consideration.

Teja Taylor Artist Name: TJ Playlist Name: I Hope this is Good Enough 1. Amazing- Kanye West, Young Jeezy 2. Its Your World- Jennifer Hudson, R. Kelly 3. Fill me up/ Overview- Tasha Cobbs 4. Fair Trade- Drake 5. Spaceship- Kanye West 6. Tired- Kelly Price 7. I DID IT - DJ Khaled, Lil Baby, Lil Durk, Megan The Stallion, Post Malone

Hi, I'm Teja Taylor, I'm 19 years old and in the second semester of my sophomore year in college. I'm from the south side of Chicago, Illinois but I attend college in Southern Illinois at SIU Carbondale. I'm a first-generation college student on my father's side. So, one of my goals is to inspire more POC to attend college or at least a trade school to enhance their chances of having a successful future. Along with this keep students in school. Though in school, many students plan on discontinuing college because they aren't able to financially provide for themselves while at school and their parents aren't financially supporting them either. With that, I have another goal of inspiring those types of students to fight harder to stay in school by finding a way to make money while at school, for example, possibly getting a job. With this, the students will at least have a source of income if they do still decide to drop out of college. Moreover, I have faith that going to school is eventually going to pay off for me and I want other students to have that same faith. I'm studying air traffic control with a Bachelor of Science in Aviation Management. I chose my area of study because I am genuinely interested in Aviation but I had to choose a job that would bring in enough income to afford to move to a safer city or suburb. The homes in the surrounding suburbs in Illinois are known to be expensive with even higher taxes. Along with this, I intend on using my income to start side businesses such as a truck driving company. These side businesses will provide jobs, and fund multiple non-profits for my community and cities around the world. The job will be supplied to my friends that don't plan on furthering their education past high school. The non-profits organizations will be homeless kitchens, shelters, and art and math programs for the youth. I feel with these types of organizations more young POC would be off the streets and less into gangs which would lead to less violence in black communities. I also aim to use my career as an inspiration to get more POC to look into unconventional jobs such as Air Traffic Control, so they can potentially make more money. I plan to pay attention and network as much as possible to learn and come back home to spread all my knowledge, hopefully encouraging others to get better jobs or careers.

Hi, I'm Teja Taylor, I'm 19 years old and in the second semester of my sophomore year in college. I'm from the south side of Chicago, Illinois but I attend college in Southern Illinois at SIU Carbondale. I'm a first-generation college student on my father's side. So, one of my goals is to inspire more people to attend college or at least a trade school to enhance their chances of having a successful future. Along with this keep students in school. Though in school, many students plan on discontinuing college because they aren't able to financially provide for themselves while at school and their parents aren't financially supporting them either. With that, I have another goal of inspiring those types of students to fight harder to stay in school by finding a way to make money while at school, for example, possibly getting a job. With this, the students will at least have a source of income if they do still decide to drop out of college. Moreover, I have faith that going to school is eventually going to pay off for me and I want other students to have that same faith. I'm studying air traffic control with a Bachelor of Science in Aviation Management. Air Traffic Control is seen as a form of engineering, however, my degree can be used to get 10+ jobs in different areas such as aviation marketing, airline management, airfield operations, etc. I chose my area of study because I am genuinely interested in Aviation but I had to choose a job that would bring in enough income to afford to move to a safer city or suburb. The homes in the surrounding suburbs in Illinois are known to be expensive with even higher taxes. Along with this, I intend on using my income to start side businesses such as a truck driving company. These side businesses will provide jobs, and fund multiple non-profits for my community and cities around the world. The job will be supplied to my friends that don't plan on furthering their education past high school. I also aim to use my career as an inspiration to get more POC to look into unconventional jobs such as Air Traffic Control, so they can potentially make more money. I plan to pay attention and network as much as possible to learn and come back home to spread all my knowledge, hopefully encouraging others to get better jobs or careers.