It was a pitch black moonless night, and a fine silver mist had covered the small town, off along in the distance you could hear the faint whimper of a cold scared twelfth grader struggling to pay for college. Why do I love writing Its exciting I love when the author is able to pull you right in and immerse you with words so captivating for forget where you are for that minute, You kind of forget all your worldly troubles, cause lets face it we all go through things good or bad. And for that time, you can experience someone else's world you can help someone through there issues while wanting to best for them and not even knowing them you can share intimate moments with them from their story you smile, you laugh, you cheer you cry with them. Since the birth of the character you are right along side of them sharing there mistakes and there achievements. Writing opens new worlds new doors and new ways of thinking. learning how to use words to get your point across or to help a friend convince her parents why she should go to the homecoming dance, can change how people view and value each other. words creates substance and add details to everyday things. Details create the picture and is a wonderful way to workout your creative side of the brain. My goal is to one write a book of some sort maybe about a kid in middle school overcoming a virial moment on social media or dealing with bullying. I want to have the reader feel the embarrassment and the triumph and have empathy for the person so a connection can be made I want to be so confident in my ability to communicate and or articulate words people become inspired and ready to make a change after reading something I wrote. College will help me master skills with writing and reading even listing to things better In order to write you first have to listen in order to understand and get a clearer view of what is it your tryna to say to the reader. What is it that you want them to feel. Words last lifetimes, writing is the way information is passed down from generations to the next. If I should be so blessed to go to college and receive help with funding. I plan of writing in nature I have note books with charms and cute pens I even have stickers to use in my writing. My goal in writing is to write a piece of literature that makes people cry and become filled with emotions.

Having diabetes as a teenager is scary and unknown You know nothing about it or how you got it not knowing if its from to many sweets or if you got it from your parents genes. I was the young tender age of fourteen when I found out I was diabetic My mom said she noticed me sleeping and eating a lot more I also had dark mark around my mouth and my neck due to excess sugar in my body. This was around the covid time so it was hard to get outside or go places due to the global shut down. so eating and sleeping was all I did it was all anyone could do during this time. I gained fifty pounds in that year I was the heaviest and I hated the way I looked and felt my mom is on the bigger side too but he tried to help encourage me and herself by working out at home or asking me to take walks with her. To be honest I was not interested. When we had the doctor appointment to go over the blood work I still remember my doctor saying those words. "Diabetic" it was almost like a death sentence even though I didn't know much about it I knew that it wasn't something I wanted to have. My mom hugged me with tears in my eyes she said don't worry you are going to change this we sat down with a health specialist. She walked me thru learning how to eat and what times to eats and what a healthy plate looks like. I was able to understand more about the diagnoses, and how to cope and manage it. Not going to lie being fourteen years old and told I could not eat rice or a baked potato, but only once a week was ruff for me. I had developed a unhealthy relationship with food as to where, I depended on it. It was hard I had mood swings when I was told I couldn't have certain foods. I had to understand that if I continued to eat the way I was, I would kill my self sooner, learning to diet and exercise for myself has really helped me to shape myself. As a women of color I had to learn how we are effected different when it comes to over eating or eating processed foods. Living with diabetes has taught me so much I'm happy to say that over the last 2 years I have lost all fifty pounds an now I rank for pre diabetes, I'm reversing my symptom's and doing the hard work in the process I feel stronger when I'm able to turn down food or sweets knowing that I don't need that food to live understanding that sweets are going to be around forever and I don't have to consume them all in the same day. this is teaching me self love and self guidance as I continue to grow into my future self I will be able to love and care for my body to last me for the rest of my life.

What I love about writing is the freedom is gives you u can make up anything any phrase even make up your own words, Writing gives me a release a burst of energy. A cost less way to express myself. sometimes while I'm writing ill come up with little pictures on the page with friendly face or mad faces if that's the mood I'm in .I do believe that reading and writing goes hand an hand I fell in love with reading my mom used to work at a school when I was younger and over the summer months she would always bring home to old books for my brother and I to read . We sometimes would get in trouble and get on punishment's and wouldn't be allowed to go outside to play and I would read books and it was like I was outside anyways. Growing up I had a younger brother who would always copy everything that I did and always wan to play and sleep in my room. So at night, I would read books out loud to him until he feel asleep. then I would kick him out my bed onto the floor with a blanket. One holiday my mom got me a diary it was the only thing I got that year but I was happy, she told me I could write down anything I wanted that it was mine and no-one would be able to look inside not even her. I was so excited all the books I had read were about solving crimes . I wanted to write a short story about me and my little brother inside my dairy about how we were detectives looking for the bad toys around the room , who committed crimes against the other good toys in the toy box. This was my very first time writing something I was lost in the story and how it made me feel to be able to see my ideas come alive. I remember reading it to my mom and seeing the smile and hearing her laugh as she asked me "you wrote that yourself' she looked so proud and happy. That was another moment that writing made me feel good. Now that I'm a high school senior I really want to study English literature in collage. My dream isn't to become a book writer or even a teacher. I want to inspire children to get creative and get off social media and get inside them selves. To often the newer generation of people are stuck looking down at a phone or devices, not realizing that we are being stripped of our creativity and forced to feel ashamed, when our average lives don't add up the glamorous post we see on social media. I believe that furthering my education in English will help me reach new minds and be able to open them up to reach there full potential.

Coming from a single parent low income household. You grow up not knowing that you have less then others you grow up shopping at second hand clothing stores, and going to food banks to get a hot meal. Often These struggles become everyday life and you don't even realize you are less fortunate then others. Until you grow up a bit and start to see things for what they really are. You start to get bullied for not having what the other kids have or because you can't go certain places like the other kids in your age group. Somethings that I have learned being raised by a single parent is to be prepared for anything. Mom worked two jobs my entire life I hardly ever seen her. We never went on any vacations due to her having to work to pay the rent. one day while my mom was at work, We didn't have enough food to eat and there was no way that we could get in touch with my mom. when my mom got home later that night she came in with fast food to eat I was so happy I didn't even know she knew I was hungry. I cried and said thanks mom I was so hungry. my mom said I know we got to stay prepared for a rainy day. The next day at school I remember asking the kids at lunch if they wanted their milk and applesauce and if not they could give them to me. They did the teacher came and asked why I was doing that I told her my mom said it best to stay prepared for a rainy day. After that my teacher came up with the leftover system for students. now I donate my small used clothes.

I can resonate with this story whole heartedly, My mother is a women of color and also became a teen mom with two small kids before she was eighteen years old which caused her to drop out of high school and get her GED in the local community. At the time my mother was going to a math and science school for students with an outstanding educational record. She lived in a poor community and was raised by her father and two older brothers she had no female remodel or guidance to help her mature into a young women or for the sake of my brother and me a mother. After she became pregnant she signed up for GED classes and began studying it took her 10 months to get her GED, she graduated on time and was able to receive her high school diploma. She faced so many challenges and struggles being a young women of color living in a poor community having no help. When she walked the stage at graduation she was pregnant again with my younger brother having to kids at the young tender age of eighteen. She had to apply for government assistance just to able to feed her kids and take us to the doctors. We moved into low income housing a area with a high crime rate and tons of violence. My mom was nineteen years old struggling to find a job and didn't have help providing for us. she worked warehouse jobs until she was 21 due to not having enough money. We rode the city bus for many years even walked long distances to get to and from doctors appointments. I remember we would go to food banks an my mom would tell me and baby bother it was like treat or treating we would hold the bag out and the helpers would drop the food in the bag. Looking back my mom was a young girl who was forced to grow up fast and had no idea what she doing. I do believe that if I have the pleasure of winning this scholarship this would help me break the curse of struggle and poverty I would be able to show my mother that all her hard work and love didn't not go in vein. I would be the first to go to college and graduate from a real high school in my family. to see the look on my mothers face would be worth it Growing up my mom always made sure my brother and me knew our culture an was proud of it she always told us that we would have to work extra hard to accomplish basic things, and she always told us no matter what we could do anything. we started celebrating kwanza so we could spend more time with her and also so we could learn the principles. Me wanting to go to college and change the course of my life for good to help myself and also to show my younger brother that anything is possible. Even though our dad is not present I know that my brother still needs guidance and could really benefits from seeing dreams come true first hand.

Ways that I can advocate for mental health as a high school student, and why its important to me. For starters todays world is so technology driven, and we live in a world where there is less communicating with human beings in person due to social media standards. You can order food online buy groceries online even pay bills online without ever having to communicate with anyone. There is no need to be kind to people because you never have to interact with people, therefore you don't need to know how to be kind polite and caring for others. This leads to bullies being able to hide behind a screen and say what ever ,when ever they want. Bullying is at a all time high among young teens and young adults online bullying cant be stopped there is no one online that can stop the nasty comments or words from effecting those who read or are triggered by the hateful comments. I have experienced bullying one time or another online bulling is the worst by far in my opinion. I was placed on a anti depressant to help cope with the feeling of not feeling good enough or that I didn't matter to anyone. Things that I did to help change my way of thinking, and help me to create stronger mental health abilities within myself. Logging off social media, talking with my mom and hearing stories of her childhood when she had to over come challenges of being bullied. Going outside. making new friends that liked to do different things then what I was use to doing. talking less, And learning to enjoy my own company I had to be ok with being alone. I learned so much about myself I made new hobbies that I enjoy doing and don't need a gang of people to do them with. It took sometime for me to become stronger in the ways that I love myself and others. Since this has happened to me I try to bring awareness to people about being more kind to others. I try to be the positive person. I don't interact with people when they are saying hurtful things about, and to people I don't over do it either, just settles reminders to be nice say kind words and reminder words hurt. Once I say those things the conversation starts to change. I also where clothes' with encouraging words and phrases like be kind , your loved , and peace not war. I feel like just those little everyday reminders to try to be aware of what you say to people can save a life of someone going through mental distress. Wearing T shirts with kinds words outside in my community is my little way of spreading love and positivity daily in my own neighbor.