Ronald and Betty Thomas Educational Scholarship

A life full of challenges can really set you back, especially if they are major ones. Having to live with a single-parent, living in shelter after shelter due to lack of money, then having to get taken away from that only parent, and becoming adopted are my major set backs Growing up in a poverty stricken area in Miami, FL there were very little to no opportunities to grow and strive and having only one parent (who had three kids) trying to make a living and take care of us, the best she could, at the same time was a total fail. So we ended up staying with multiple different people until we were forced out then ended up living in shelter after shelter. So then my mom decided that it was time for us to move. So we ended up going to Gainesville but we still don’t have any money or nowhere to go we were staying with my grandma in her one bedroom one bathroom apartment, where we weren’t supposed to live in the first place so we had to leave. We then ended up staying in Saint Francis House for about six months until my mom was accepted for housing in Alachua Florida, and that’s when we started living our “life”.   One day, within a couple of months into living in our home. The police started knocking on our door, and with the police there were DCF (Department of children and family). Remembering as if happened last week, they asked my mom to step outside to talk. Me and my Brother were baffled sitting on the sofa in the living room, while my little sister was laying in the bedroom, my brother told me that he thought he heard them say that they were going to take us away. One of the DCF counselors came inside and told us to put on and pack some clothes and to get in the van. After hearing this, everyone was screaming and hollering not wanting  to leave. I even tried to convince them to not take us but we ended up getting into the van. And in the van I was wondering what is going on? what is happening? And as the oldest, I thought I was supposed to do something about what was going on, but I couldn’t do anything because I was too young and having see my siblings and my mom cry the way they were crying , I was stuck. so we ended up going to DCF and we’re sitting in there taking fingerprints while the counselors were calling relatives asking if we could stay with them until they got things sorted out. And this is when two of the most important people in my life decided to take us. My uncle and aunt. I really am thankful for my Uncle and Aunt, they were already struggling with one kid of their own and then take three more when no one else wanted to take us in. Even though my sister had to leave ,a couple of years after all of the trials we had to go through, my uncle and aunt became my mom and dad. And since then, I have been able to do the things needed or wanted to, and accomplish major goals without worrying about any problems. For example; i’m ending with my senior year and I’m getting ready to go to college. So any life challenges or setbacks that are happening now, can and will change in the future for something even better. So Don’t let them stop you.

When I was handed my course schedule in 6th grade, I was devastated to see that I was required to take intensive reading. I cried because I thought everyone would think I was dumb. I tried to hide this class from my friends. I felt even worse when I saw it on my 7th and 8th grade schedules too. Kids can be mean and there were a few who made me believe I was stupid. When I entered high school, I realized that reading is the key to discovery, and I had to work hard to improve. I set a goal for myself to improve enough to test out of that class. I read many books and discovered that I enjoyed reading mysteries and therefore, I dove into that genre. I achieved my goal and tested out of the intensive reading class, but I never forgot how others made me feel during those three years. During my sophomore year in high school, I began tutoring elementary school aged students in reading. My purpose was to help support their teachers by providing extra support outside of the classroom. I started with two students. We would meet once or twice a week and work on reading comprehension, vocabulary, retelling stories, fluency, and phonics. The students were not happy about working with me until I told them about my own struggles with reading. By sharing my story, I gained the student’s trust. Over the past three years I have tutored a dozen students and each one has made improvements. I do not take all the credit as they all had phenomenal teachers, but I do acknowledge that I contributed to their success. My reading challenges helped me become the person I am today. Setting goals and achieving them gave me confidence and compassion for others who struggle with all aspects of life. I went from shy and withdrawn to extremely active and involved. I am currently a member of the National Honor Society, Key Club, Go Green Club, Best Buddies Club and am a member of the yearbook staff. I am a varsity sideline cheerleader and on the varsity co-ed competition cheerleading team. During my high school career, I have also been a member of the Students for Students club and cheer captain. My cheer team has awarded me the “Most Encouraging” award for the past three years. I earned an Adobe Certified Professional – Visual Design using Adobe Photoshop certificate during my sophomore year. I am passionate about giving back to my community and have earned over a thousand hours of documented community service. I am currently a volunteer cheerleading coach at Western Pines Middle School, a volunteer teacher’s assistant at Frontier Elementary School and I volunteer in the childcare center at Christ Fellowship in Palm Beach Gardens. My short-term goals are to finish out my senior year with straight A’s, graduate, gain admissions to college, earn a spot on a college co-ed cheer team, and earn scholarships to help with cost of college. My long-term goals are to earn a bachelor’s degree and become a special education teacher. The Ronald and Betty Thomas Educational Scholarship will help with the cost of tuition to attend a university with an excellent education program.

I have overcome so much adversity in my life including the death of my grandfather and having to move constantly from place to place. Ever since I was little, my family and I have been moving from house to house due to financial issues. My mom was a single mom for many years of my life, and she had to support us on her own, which was hard. Even with school, I have had to move from school to school due to my dad coming back into the picture fully and getting partial custody of me and my sister in later years. It has been hard to adjust to one house or school, to have to turn around and move again. The death of my grandfather at an early age drastically changed my life and weighed heavy on me for years. The grief was so intense and unbearable. I had lost family members before, but this was the absolute worst thing that happened to me. We were extremely close and suddenly he was not there anymore. I feel into a great depression after he died, and I went to a dark place. It took me so long to overcome that pain and sorrow I felt, and to accept the fact that he was gone. It was the hardest thing I had to get through, losing him but I recovered and became a better person because of my endurance. My future goals include becoming an elementary school teacher, preferably kindergarten through 4th grade. I plan to go to school for a BS in primary education and as I get at job at a school, I eventually want to go back for my master's degree. In college my goal is to work throughout college and start to save money to get my own apartment before graduating. I want to be well established in my career as a teacher before going back to school for higher education. As a teacher, I want to also be involved in other extracurricular activities such as tutoring to provide extra help for those who need it. Another one of my future goals is to be married and have children of my own after college and after establishing a career in education. This scholarship will help me achieve those goals because it will help me pay for college for my future. It will help me be the best teacher I can be and get the best education that I need to be the educator that I strive to be. With this scholarship it can help me not to stress or worry about the costs of college but focus on what is most important: my life and the future I can have by studying hard and doing the best I can for the career that I want in life.

One adversity I had to overcome was a lifetime thing. It's something I'm not ashamed of but it does have its difficult moments. It's having immigrant parents and being their first son. Both my parents arrived in the United States as teenagers and lived with family they had over here. The reason why they decided to move is because they wanted to start a family. They knew if they started a family in Mexico it would've been difficult due to where they came from. Months later since they moved they had me. It was a challenge for them because they had no money, my father was an alcoholic and wasted the money he got from his two jobs on alcohol. My mother didn't have a job, because of the pregnancy and had to live off what my parents made. We lived in a tiny apartment, where it was only one room with no windows. IT WAS A BOX. We lived there for 3 years until we moved to a trailer park, where it was way better than the cement box we lived in. We consider it an upgrade since it had windows. Being raised with Mexican parents you expected me to know Spanish but unfortunately, that's not the case. English is my first language with a little Spanish. I had to learn fast though, I picked up everything l know from watching Selena Gomez and the speaking books my mother got me to learn while waiting for the bus. I went everywhere with them to translate. Mcdonalds, doctor's appointments, etc, l was everywhere learning everything. At age five l was learning how the appendix affects your health and how it could kill you instead of knowing how to play with Hot Wheels. I saw other kids playing with phones and toys, wishing it was me and not filling out my passport at age 10. No less I'm thankful for how my parents raised me and what they had to go through to help me succeed in life. To be well-rounded and more understanding of things than other kids my age. My future goal is to be a teacher. I want to play a role in kids where they understand their true value and what they can bring to the world and others. By this, they can have more confidence and someone they can come to for guidance. Currently, I'm a colonel for my band which is like a teacher in a way where I help kids to become better not just instruments but becoming young adults for the real world. This scholarship will help me achieve this goal by helping me but also helping my parents. Showing them everything they went through for me, in hopes of making them proud. And to become the first in my family to graduate high school and go to college. This scholarship will help me continue my studies in education to help others, especially other kids who face the same obstacles I went through as a kid and give them a hand to see them succeed. This scholarship will not only be a reward but an achievement showing the benefits of the hard work l put in and the power to continue.