I grew up witnessing a lot of abuse in my family from all sides. By age four I had already witnessed 5 physical fights in my family, 3 of which were between my mother and father. The last one was at age four and that was the final straw within my parents marriage. At 18 years old I can still recall every detail of that night as if it happened yesterday. I could tell you what the fight was for, who started it, where it happened, the names of the police officers that came after, and even what movie i was watching when the officers showed up. This traumatic event wasn't the first visible abuse in my family, nor was it the last. I saw my both of my grandparents fight my mother, and for a long time I thought that my life would be centered around the abuse and trauma of my past. As i got older i wondered everyday, if I would do to my kids or wife what was done to my mother and me, and on many occasions I felt like just giving up on school, extra curricular's, and trying in any and all aspects of life. I don't know why but around age 13 I came to the realization that while I was my father's son, I wasn't destined to become him. And even through all of this, my mother never gave up on me. I buckled down in school and maintained over a 3.0 through the rest of my middle to high school career. If I needed help, my mother was there, and if she couldn't, she made sure I had a tutor that could. In sports, she would always go put and help me practice, and whatever she couldn't do, she made sure i had a trainer that could. It has always been me and my mother against the world. She has sacrificed everything for me even dropping out of college and giving up on her career dreams because she had to take care of me. She is the reason that I am the person I am today, regardless of my past and present circumstances. She is the reason that I want to be the first person in my family to go to and finish college, because that would reassure her that no matter what happened, she and I did this together. My father has become more present in my life, but for a long time I resented him. I would decline his calls daily because I believed that all I needed was my mom because that’s the only person I really ever had. But I needed to forgive him, not for him, but for my growth and for my betterment. Because the longer I hold on to the last, the more it would hold me back and I refuse to let the sins of my family cause the downfall of my future.

I come from a single parent household, where for the majority of my life, it had just been me and my mother. My parents had separated when I was around four years old. They had been fighting for years but their last fight is what led to their official separation and eventual divorce. It was a petty fight over where I should go. I could either go with my dad to meet his friends and kids my age, or I could go to Chuck-E-Cheese, with my mom. Something so small that could've been resolved just by asking what I wanted, but instead it fractured my life. I can recall every detail as if it happened yesterday, from the items they threw at each other, everything they said, the layout of the house, even the names and badge numbers of the police officers that came later that night. And for the longest time I blamed myself and hated my father. I didn't know it at the time, but I was depressed. I had no motivation to go to school, do schoolwork, or even play sports. I didn't want to go outside, see my friends, and the whole night would just replay over and over again in my head. I thought that my parents may have gotten back together and been happier if I just wasn't here. So, I ran away and didn't come back home for a week and a half. the saddest part about that, is that it was the only time my parents worked together. When I finally came home, I was met with a barrage of lectures about how risky it was for me to leave without saying anything and no way of finding me. But even then, I was numb to everything they were saying. I stopped caring because I hated myself. it wasn't until age 9 when I started getting therapy and realized that my parents fighting wasn't because of me. It was a collection of fights and arguments that led to the end of their marriage. I started working my way back into applying myself and worked ten times harder just to prove that their flaws would no longer define who I am. I used baseball as an outlet because it was my only source of happiness for a while, and the only thing that made me feel in control. from then up until now, I have maintained honor roll status and am going to college. Hopefully with this scholarship, I can take some of the load off of my mom and become the first person in my family to go to, and eventually finish college.

Growing up, the biggest thing that I have always wanted was to be listened to. To be heard and understood, things that I was never given in my household. I lived in a home where my voice didn't matter, where my feelings were invalid and I was told that I was ungrateful because I was upset. It sent me into a depression that to this day I am still getting past, but I think these feelings are what drove me to choose my future career. Throughout the years, I have been told by my classmates that I am very easy to approach and open up to. That I provide this sort of, "security blanket" and make them feel safe. My goal is to give a voice to those who feel unheard, to offer an open ear and just listen to the needs of others. Because of this, I have chosen to be a lawyer focusing on the Innocence Project. It's no secret that many men and women have been incarcerated and wrongly prosecuted without a fair trial or with poor representation. My goal is to again, give a voice to those who feel unheard and silenced, not just for the people who look like me, but for every man and woman who have suffered from our flawed justice system. I want to be the change that I want to see and this scholarship will help award me that opportunity. I will use it to help pay for law school after which I will continue my journey into my career. I plan to start as a paralegal so I can better grasp and understand the justice system through my research and case study. This will also allow me to learn from lawyers more experienced than myself and learn to present the information I have found with so much confidence and assertiveness that it can't be denied. Lastly, if I'm being honest I don't have many contributions to my community outside of community service and my school. However, there is one event that I will never forget. Every year, my high school redistricts itself and places borders around areas that can go to the school. It either gets wider and more inclusive or it shrinks, and in this case, the border was completely reduced, and a lot of students were removed from the school. This particular student I met was a senior like me and found out midway through his senior year that he was no longer in the school district so he was removed. I didn't know him well, but I knew it was unfair and that he was a good student based on my interactions with him in class. He took it on the chin and just left the school but I kept in contact because while we weren't friends, we were classmates and I enjoyed engaging in debates with him in class. I could tell he was upset because he was being forced to go to a school where violence was more prominent and where the education was less than sufficient. I started a petition to give him reinstated into the school and got almost the entire school to sign it. It gained so much traction that it was on the morning announcements daily for two weeks. We brought it to the principal and voiced our support and within a week, the school changed its border again and the student was brought back. I was given detention for this, but I would do it again because this is who I am and I will never apologize for that.

Honestly, I don’t know who I am just yet. Yes I am a student athlete, but my life isn’t so simple to fit in any specific category. What I can say is that I’m the kid who sees someone sitting by themselves and sits with them. Or sees a homeless man and if I don’t have money with me at that time, I will come back with food. I’m the kid who tries to empathize with anyone and everyone, and offers an open ear. I don’t know when or why I am that way but I will never apologize for it. I like to help people and help them feel empowerment through their own voices. Most people think they’re being a burden or that I don’t want to hear about their problems but honestly, I think helping others through their trauma completes me in a way. The satisfaction of watching someone grow past their trauma helps me to do the same, in addition to just feeling good. My goal is to make sure everyone has a voice. That is why I chose to pursue a degree in criminal justice. I see time and time again people not receiving representation or remaining voiceless and unable to tell their truth. I want to make the change that I want to see and help the people who don’t thrive in the justice system or are often overlooked. If there are cases that are dismissed, I want to be the person who gives them a chance. My mother has always told me to be the change I want to see, and this is the only way I know how to do that. I spent the majority of my life finding my voice, and still haven’t to this day. But it has allowed me an opportunity to give back not just to my community, but to the future generations of children who struggle to find their voice and express their truth. A lot of people say to me “you’re not a super hero” or “stop trying to save the world” but I turn around and hear those same people talking about issues I’ve both experienced and seen first hand. I want to use my degree to push past talking about issues and start taking action to fix them. So it’s not that I am trying to be a superhero or fix the world. I simply want to to my part to create change in the best way I know how. It is my calling, and that is who I am.

From a young age I grew up in a very abusive household with police officers constantly in my home questioning my mother about events that occurred. To this day I can remember details of each event from what movie I was watching to the names of the officers that were in my home. I always felt like I never had a voice or a say in anything in my life because for a long time I didn’t. And the older I got I grew to be empathetic to others who experienced similar traumas as I have and helped them find their voice by simply offering an ear. Most people think they’re being a burden or that I don’t want to hear about their problems but honestly, I think helping others through their trauma completes me in a way. The satisfaction of watching someone grow past their trauma helps me to do the same, in addition to just feeling good. That is why I chose to pursue a degree in criminal justice. I see time and time again people not receiving representation or remaining voiceless and unable to tell their truth. I want to make the change that I want to see and help the people who don’t thrive in the justice system or are often overlooked. If there are cases that are dismissed, I want to be the person who gives them a chance. My mother has always told me to be the change I want to see, and this is the only way I know how to do that. I spent the majority of my life finding my voice, and still haven’t to this day. But it has allowed me an opportunity to give back not just to my community, but to the future generations of children who struggle to find their voice and express their truth. A lot of people say to me “you’re not a super hero” or “stop trying to save the world” but I turn around and hear those same people talking about issues I’ve both experienced and seen first hand. I want to use my degree to push past talking about issues and start taking action to fix them. So it’s not that I am trying to be a superhero or fix the world. I simply want to to my part to create change in the best way I know how. It is my calling, and it is who I am. I refuse to change for anyone, because at the end of the day, I am unapologetically “me”.

From a young age I grew up in a very abusive household with police officers constantly in my home questioning my mother about events that occurred. To this day I can remember details of each event from what movie I was watching to the names of the officers that were in my home. I always felt like I never had a voice or a say in anything in my life because for a long time I didn’t. And the older I got I grew to be empathetic to others who experienced similar traumas as I have and helped them find their voice by simply offering an ear. Most people think they’re being a burden or that I don’t want to hear about their problems but honestly, I think helping others through their trauma completes me in a way. The satisfaction of watching someone grow past their trauma helps me to do the same, in addition to just feeling good. That is why I chose to pursue a degree in criminal justice. I see time and time again people not receiving representation or remaining voiceless and unable to tell their truth. I want to make the change that I want to see and help the people who don’t thrive in the justice system or are often overlooked. If there are cases that are dismissed, I want to be the person who gives them a chance. My mother has always told me to be the change I want to see, and this is the only way I know how to do that. I spent the majority of my life finding my voice, and still haven’t to this day. But it has allowed me an opportunity to give back not just to my community, but to the future generations of children who struggle to find their voice and express their truth. And when I say “my community”, I mean every student, athlete, child, and adult who harbors that disempowered feeling of being voiceless. A lot of people say to me “you’re not a super hero” or “stop trying to save the world” but I turn around and hear those same people talking about issues I’ve both experienced and seen first hand. I want to use my degree to push past talking about issues and start taking action to fix them. So it’s not that I am trying to be a superhero or fix the world. I simply want to to my part to create change in the best way I know how. It is my calling, and it is who I am.

I grew up witnessing a lot of abuse in my family from all sides. By age four I had already witnessed 5 physical fights in my family, 3 of which were between my mother and father. The last one was at age four and that was the final straw within my parents marriage. At 18 years old I can still recall every detail of that night as if it happened yesterday. I could tell you what the fight was for, who started it, where it happened, the names of the police officers that came after, and even what movie i was watching when the officers showed up. This traumatic event wasn't the first visible abuse in my family, nor was it the last. I saw my both of my grandparents fight my mother, and for a long time I thought that my life would be centered around the abuse and trauma of my past. As i got older i wondered everyday, if I would do to my kids or wife what was done to my mother and me, and on many occasions I felt like just giving up on school, extra curricular's, and trying in any and all aspects of life. I don't know why but around age 13 I came to the realization that while I was my father's son, I wasn't destined to become him. And even through all of this, my mother never gave up on me. I buckled down in school and maintained over a 3.0 through the rest of my middle to high school career. If I needed help, my mother was there, and if she couldn't, she made sure I had a tutor that could. In sports, she would always go put and help me practice, and whatever she couldn't do, she made sure i had a trainer that could. It has always been me and my mother against the world. She has sacrificed everything for me even dropping out of college and giving up on her career dreams because she had to take care of me. She is the reason that I am the person I am today, regardless of my past and present circumstances. She is the reason that I want to be the first person in my family to go to and finish college, because that would reassure her that no matter what happened, she and I did this together. My father has become more present in my life, but for a long time I resented him. I would decline his calls daily because I believed that all I needed was my mom because that’s the only person I really ever had. But I needed to forgive him, not for him, but for my growth and for my betterment. Because the longer I hold on to the last, the more it would hold me back and I refuse to let the sins of my family cause the downfall of my future.

At an early age I can recall my mother telling me I had an ear for music. I could never quite understand what she meant, I just knew that I loved music of all genres and I heard music differently than others. Music excited me and made my feel something! at about 7 years old I can recall going into a music store with my mom to purchase a recorder for school and I was instantly drawn to the guitar. So much so that the sales person took one down off of the display and allowed me to hold it. Just strumming strings was soothing. That day when we left the store, I asked my mother if she would purchase me one for Christmas. I began watching the tutorial and teaching myself how to play. Once I mastered the guitar I then starting playing around with my cousin's keyboard. Just from hearing the notes and the melodies in songs, I began to teach myself how to play by playing what a heard initially. To my surprise, it sounded great! Even my mother couldn't believe I had played a song from ear alone. it was then that I knew I had found something.....my voice. Playing music gave me a voice so to speak , often when I felt voiceless. From then on, I joined the chorus at school. A few years ago, I met my paternal grandfather for the first time and I finally began to understand where my love for music came from. He said it was in my DNA, as he too was a musician. My grandfather is a professional drummer, but he also plays both the bass guitar and the keyboard. i began studying and learning to play drums as well. For me, music is an outlet! Playing music or composing songs and arrangements allows me to express myself at times when I'm not quite sure how. Even the music I listen too, helps me. From Frank Sinatra, to Sea Shanties or pop music, country and even Latin music. It is soothing. I listen to music doing almost EVERYTHING! Its a part of me!!I I recently began teaching my younger cousin to play the keyboard, as a way to introduce him to music. Music is powerful and healing and I hope to help others find their voice through instruments or song, whichever makes them happy. I also plan to teach him along with others that they can express themselves through music, that it uses every emotion and feeling. Music helps you heal and is beautiful. My goal is to continue to use it to express me feelings thoughts and emotions, as well as sharing with others its beauty and hopefully teaching them what I've learned so that they too can use it to express themselves.