The pen and who has it by selma

The pen and who has it by selma - October 2022 Scholarship Essay

Coming to the US is no easy feat for a family that did not plan for it. One day you are applying to work for the town mine and then next you are picked up off the street by the enemy. My father always tells me the disbelief he faces everyday he wakes up in the US having never expected to set foot outside his home village. In the US, you can make it as a blue collar folk. Oh, but you don't speak english? Here's a cleaning job. Here's a break-your-back job. A lack of access to education begins before college. Its not having computer access, its not having a library in your community and its having parents who learned even less. Not having an education makes for a stressful life. I am fortunate to have grown up in the US with the option to plan my future. I can plan what courses I'll take, who will help me success in them. I can plan how those courses will land me jobs and I plan how those jobs will shape my career. I can plan what I'll buy with this career money. I can plan security for my family in a safe and stable home. I can plan for vacations and rest. I can plan for peace and solutions for the problems I will face. These are priviledges my cousins back home do not have nor my parents in their day.

I struggle with a severe thyroid issues. My lack of thyroid causes depression and brain fog. I have learned I need to plan my studies around my health. As I near the end of my academic career, I have come to realize that any obstacle can be mitigated with a good plan. Had I grew up in my parents village, I would have never learned what was wrong or how to deal with it. Education goes beyond money, it can mean the difference between health and low quality of life.