Letter To Jesse Owen Scholarship

Thank you for your support. The joy I felt when I received word that I was a recipient of the Jesse Owen Scholarship was indescribable. I was overwhelmed, dumbfounded. It felt surreal. I knew that this was nothing short of a miracle. My reaction was vastly different than my family’s reaction. Where I was stunned silent, trying to process the news, my mother and grandmother was ecstatic, so full of energy that they were nearly screaming at each other, thanking God and all the goodness in the world. As I reflect on this life changing moment in my life I still feel the same feelings that left me speechless back then. I now realize that in addition to the feeling of joy, I also felt a sense of hope and responsibility.
I grew up in (what would be consider) a “rough” neighborhood in Cleveland, OH. My …show more content…
One day my mother asked me what made me special, why did I study so hard when I wasn’t asked to, why didn’t I follow the easy path like most of my friends? I didn’t know what to tell her. I didn’t see myself as the smartest, or the most deserving. This isn’t to say I didn’t push myself, but I know others who tried just as hard, if not harder, than I did but life got in their way. If I could trade places with my brother who dropped out of high school because the school system let him fall through the cracks, or my childhood best friend who became a drug dealer at a relatively young age because he grew up in a toxic environment with no role models, or my cousin who was so smart and well-meaning but got pregnant at a young age and drop out of school, I would trade places with them in a heartbeat. I know that if things were a little different that they would be writing this paper right now. I like to think, like Sir Isaac Newton, I stand on the shoulders of giants. These giants are my friends, family members, mentors, and supporters that change my life and safe me from committing self-destruction by accepting a false