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Recommended: overcoming obstacles and challenges

I wish I could write my whole life story for this scholarship but that would be too long and extremely hard to believe. In my, almost 19 years on this earth, I have been through turmoil. I have seen many things that would terrify anyone who is not built for hard times. I have witness my only aunt’s body lay lifeless in front of me from suicide; I have witness my mother’s oldest daughter convert from a successful ghost writer to a homeless dual diagnosis junkie. My eyes have witnessed it all, mainly the struggle to survive.
I grew up in a single parent home in Los Angeles where resources and money were limited. My father was a functional drug addict and dealer who was rarely around. My mother is a handicapped person with restricted mobility. For years we survived off a 328.00 dollar welfare check and food stamps until my mother finally received social security benefits in 2012. Living on a fixed income I never experienced things many children had the opportunity of doing. Although my mother was in a serious situation she remained a kind hearted giving person and I believe this is how we survived and stayed blessed for all those years.
My mother is my inspiration; I just want to make her proud! She has high blood pressure, congested heart failure, COPD, RA, and on top of that she is a cancer survivor. In my sophomore year of high school I had to attend an independent study school in order to take care of my mom. I feared that one day I would find her in her room dead because of health related issues. Changing schools worried my mom because her and as well as many other family members doubted that I would even graduate let alone go to college. She seen her oldest daughter graduate from a vocational college and then lose her mind sh...

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...ometimes I sit back and think of all the things I have faced in life and be in awe of what God has done. I thank him daily for allowing me to be here today and pulling me from situations that could have changed my life for the worse. I thank my mother for supporting me and not giving up on me even when I gave up on myself. Although times may get hard, I am thankful for the hard times because it has made me into the person I am today. I am even more thankful for the support I have gotten while in college; not many people can survive in a place not knowing a soul. I deserve a scholarship because I know that with it I can continue to inspire children in my community and make people proud by staying in college. After I am finished with college and can inspire more children because I will have a degree and be taken more seriously because I am their definition of success.

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