A teacher who went out of their way for me, and made me strive to be an educator is my 3rd grade teacher Mrs. Crenshaw. While in her class, she made sure all of her students were protected. There cam a day where a group of girls did not want to play with me because they said I am not popular, and that my hair was ugly. In response, my teacher ha them write sentences, and made them play with me, with me for two weeks. When she would often see me alone, she would take walks with me on the playground, and even go as far as to her and her husband eating lunch with me in the cafeteria. This really meant a lot to me at the time, and it means even more to me now. I was often alone as a child due to me not fitting in at my private school. I was always the only black person in the room. The truth is, when they said my hair was ugly, it was because my hair was black, in braids, and "disgusting" because there was no way I could be washing my hair with all of those braids in. Later on, this same group of girls were caught by Mrs. Crenshaw and punished for doing something very similar to me with another little black girl, who's parents caught wind of the situation. She could have stayed quiet like the rest of the teachers at the school, but she went above and beyond to make sure her students felt comfortable, to make sure I felt comfortable. I strive to be the kind of educator Mrs. Crenshaw was to me .I want to make my students comfortable speaking about hard to talk about situations, and let them know that they will always have a safe space with me.

Society can most effectively empower women by holding men accountable. These things tend to always boil down to men simply because it is a patriarchal society. Until we start to attack the double standards for men in society, and make them feel as uncomfortable as they have made women feel, there will be no change. Make it common practice to be able to discuss wage in the workplace. Let out girls where take tops to school. Instead of punishing a child for boys not being able to control themselves, have the boy get moved to a different side of the room, or taken to the counselor to discuss respect of bodily autonomy. Absent fathers are let off far too easily by the government. Child support is almost essential for a single mother to survive. The amount a father has to pay for child support should not be limited by their income simply due to the fact that regardless of the other's income, she will still have to compensate for what he is not contributing, and make a way for her child despite her low income. If the state does not like the idea of this, then they should not have a problem with providing the missing funds themselves. The system was not built for single mothers. The numbers never work out when you consider the cot of childcare, working hours, sick leave for children, maternity leave, or lack of, for yourself,and lower pay rates for women. If society ca punish women for being single parents, then it s time to hold fathers accountable for their part. This theory can translate into many other sexist issues in society.If we give reverse alternatives to men,they will not be comfortable any longer.

Like many women, and especially black women perusing a higher education, I was pushed to be in the nursing field. I did not think twice about anything else I could possibly want to do with my life. Due to this, going through my classes, I felt very unattached, and had no meaning to hat I was doing. I then changed my major to psychology aiming to be a school counselor. I saw from experience in my small town how the children from early elementary school with behavioral issues , moved on to be middle schooners,high-schoolers, and even adults that had behavioral issues . I wanted to be that person that stopped these issues at the head and turned them into successful, functional adults. I added education and criminology as my minor, and this is where things took a drastic change. Throughout my studies for these minors, I uncovered so much about the world, and how our system works. Everything from education, psychology, health and even the criminal justice system all intricately worked together, and were connected in almost a domino affect. Through my education classes, I was able to see many different schools along the spectrum of private, to intercity. Black, urban schools had poor structural, teaching, and nutritional conditions when the opposite can be said for their white counterparts. Health disparities ran rampant in these schools due to misinformed parents and communities. As a Public Health educator and advocate, I will educate minority communities on health disparities they are facing as a whole, and how the choices they make for their children right now, will follow them for a life time. Keeping underprivileged children and families healthy will also keep them off the streets and out of prison. Data shows that the children who are involved on juvenile delinquency are usually under the care of a relative suffering from health problems whom are unable to focus on quality if care for a child. There is also a link between food choices and aberrant behavior in prisoners , showing that your diet will also affect your behavior weather it be due to dyes, added sugars, or poor food quality causing disdain, chemical , nutritional, and hormonal imbalance. I would also like to educate those living on toxic land and in toxic buildings.Most lead paint, and fossil fuels are found around urban areas leading to birth defects, chronic health conditions, and even links to incarceration rates. While leaving one health related field, I found that another one was my true passion. I can make a true change in the field of Public health.

I am majoring in the field of Public Health. I am intrigued with getting my master's degree in this field due to it being so broad. There are so many aspects to center your focus on n the field of public health like nutrition, mental health, health education, and even climate change. Climate affects the health of the entire planet. I see this as one of the most important pathways of the public health denomination. I see climate change as a corporation lead disparity. While we all contribute, it is not realistic to say that the people who use conventional dyers instead of hanging their clothes to dry, were the biggest contributors to the hole in the ozone layer. With that being said, if I educate the community as a public health educator about simple ways we could take our dollars away from corporations that are causing the bulk of these environmental disparities, we will cause a chain reaction, and get the attention of the people who can make the biggest difference. I will educate the community about the affects of corporations and the environment. I will show them what everyday products they are using are the biggest waste contributes, and give them alternatives that are cost effective and safe the the environment. For example, I could speak on the daily use of disposable plates and utensils verses using its reusable counterparts. I could speak on the choice of material we are buying when it comes to our dining wear and the harmful impact it has on the planet and our bodies. If we work individually, we will make good change as a very small scale. If we work as a community, we will make great change on a large scale. This is why I think it is important to work in the public health realm. I would work in schools, non public health related events in order to capture the public's attention. I want to tell impoverished communities how the brunt of climate change is hurting them the most. Most minorities stay in lower income neighborhoods. My local inner-city , urban neighborhood called Africatown, is surrounded by tar sand manufacturing plants. Cancer rates from poor black people in my area have sky retrorocket. There are substantially more birth defects in our black communities of Mobile, AL. Although I am speaking for my own city, this is not an isolated, or unique situation. This is often the case all across the country. If I educate the community on how close climate change and the producers of climate change really hit to home, They stand a greater chance of making a change within themselves, and their neighborhoods. Our food waste and food consumption practices are big contributors to climate change. We are able to have so many types of food out of season due to the use of aircraft, ships, and deforestation to uphold the crop demand.Not to mention the unreported slave labor that goes into harvesting our favorite fruits. I will educate the community on the true cost of our food and the amount of food that gets thrown out every day to keep demand and prices up while there are those starving. Pushing the practice of establishing community gardens, growing your own food, and pushing back on companies for food waste will make a big difference for not only your wallet, but for the entire world.

I am currently under way with starting a small business of pressed botanicals. Although pressed floral art is attractive to put on walls as a statement piece, I am focusing most of my efforts to preserving precious moments through floral art like bridal, and funeral bouquets. This way, families will always have a piece of that day to remember that person, or moment. Preserving flowers the standard way by pressing them in between heavy objects or books is a lengthy and tedious process. One must be willing to wait upwards to three weeks for the flowers to dry out completely in order for it to be usable. Incorrectly pressing and preserving the flowers will result in a moldy, rotting piece of work that will deeply disappoint the customer and the families that you are servicing. Their wishes are at the utmost importance. this is especially true when you look back on the reasons why people seek these services out in the first place. you do not want to ruin a family's last keepsake of a loved one. With that being said, I think my business would flourish if I were able to buy multiple presses, or a commercial heat press. either one of these options, would cut down on my pressing and drying time tremendously. this way, I will be able to accept more customers, and fish pieces at a faster rate without risking incorrect application and methods. With multiple presses, I will be able t dry hundreds of flowers at one time, and with a commercial heat press, I would be able to dry flowers almost instantly, within minutes. Although most flowers wither and die, the flowers that I create will live on for years and years for families in need of love and support. Although flowers are seen as a simple gesture, to most, that can be farther from the truth. Flower symbolize much more. they symbolize respect, love , truth, and many other things. They are in a way speaking their own unheard language that you can only hear if your heart is open to it, and full. I want to service families with heavy heart weather it be full of joy or pain, to give them a token to hold on to the memory of precocious moments in life. With this scholarship, I will be able to d that for so many more families rather than the small scale that I am capable of dong now with limited resources.