The Wind Beneath My Wings by Lauren

The Wind Beneath My Wings by Lauren - March 2023 Scholarship Essay

It’s a bird!
It’s a plane!
It’s my super role models!
No, it is my parents!
My role models are real live people that I have access to daily. My role models are not tv characters. My role model is not a superhero from a Marvel movie. My role models are my parents. My parents are the epitome of stellar models for me to follow. My parents are both educators serving in the public-school arena. They have instilled in me my love for learning. When I was younger, my parents ensured I was read to and read daily. When I was in the first grade my parents would host a Library Party on the first Monday of Spring Break. It was a time for a close circle of friends to come and enjoy crafts, food, and time to read. My Father would even dress up as a book character. During these gatherings, year after year, I learned the importance of reading.
My role models also taught me how to share. I am an only child. Growing up my parents modeled for me the importance of giving back to the community through service. When I was about five or six years old, I remember receiving many gifts for Christmas and for my birthday. As an only child and the youngest grandchild; the only granddaughter, I would receive many gifts. My Mother would allow me to select one or two gifts and put the rest up in the gift-giving closet. When we would have visitors over to our house, I would go and select a gift to share with the children of guests. At first, I didn’t want to share my gifts, but the more I began to understand the POWER of sharing and giving, I began to freely give. The first time I saw how happy the recipient of the gift was, I was encouraged to give and share more.
Through the years, I wanted to do more to help others. I want to give more to serve my community. My parents encouraged me to serve, and I began to believe that I could serve even at a young age. I would work with my mother in the kitchen making treats for the elderly members of the church. I was so proud to hand deliver the homemade fans or flower pens on Sunday morning. I continued serving by beginning a Teddy Bear Campaign when I was in kindergarten. My nursery was decorated with hundreds of bears that had been given to me when I was born. When it was time to redecorate my room, I decided to give away the bears to expecting mothers and sick children. I gave away bears for almost five years. The last of the bears from my nursery was donated to a local police department. They were going to give the bears to children that were lonely or sad during their daily encounters with children.

My role models' influence on my life has shaped me to be a teenager that has a deep sense of care for the people around me. When I was 12 years old, I began my own community service academy. I call it Lady Lauren’s Community Service Academy. I work with about 26 students in my city on service projects to help the community. I have led my academy to be involved in our community. We were also invited to visit a National Non-Profit Organization in Washington DC one summer. I believe that it is important to learn new things and try to encourage others to learn and give back. Please view the work of my academy by following the link below:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064347536418
My role models have also supported me in kicking off an On the Run to College workshop, where I brought in speakers to talk about navigating the college process. Also, during this workshop, I had a panel of students at varying places in their school careers to give a first-hand account of their successes and some pitfalls of navigating their education. We had 53 participants at my first workshop. On the Run to College, programs continued as I came closer to applying to colleges and investigating career options. I planned and executed two month-long virtual opportunities for the public at large:
1. Investigating the Medical Profession
2. Navigating the HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities)

I attend Spelman College, where the motto is A Choice to Change the World. How befitting that I would be accepted into a school that is in alignment with what my role models have instilled in me my entire life.
My role models continue to support me as I continue to develop into the person that I am. I believe my parents are the foundation of my many successes thus far in life. When I have an idea of how I can continue supporting the community, my parents help me to make it happen. I have been shaped by my role models to be a person of honor, a person that is committed, and a person concerned about making a difference in the World. My role models, my parents, are my TRUE superheroes.

I believe there is nothing I can’t achieve or conquer in life with them by my side.