Learning for Change by Raynisse

Learning for Change by Raynisse - April 2025 Scholarship Essay

When I was younger I never really imagined a life where I would be going to college, all I knew is I wanted to help people and make a difference in our world. This is why I chose sociology. Sociology is the study of how people work, it dives into how people interact and why things are the way they are. I love this major and it’s always stood out to me because it dives into our world and helps us figure out how to make the world a better place.

I used to be obsessed with the show Criminal Minds, I loved the way the characters interacted, I loved the job they had, I loved the fact that they used their knowledge of understanding people to figure out their cases. The team solved crimes by learning to understand the behavior of these criminals, the trauma, and the social patterns. It opened my eyes to realizing there is so much more that comes with why a person acts or does something the way they do. This show made me curious about how someone’s life growing up could lead them to become such a different person. That curiosity led me to sociology as my major.

Beyond just television, I've also seen this with people I know or see at school on an everyday basis. In my community there have been some inequalities that I've noticed, like how some have opportunities at better schools than others or how some people live in safer places than others, or even just the basic resources a person needs. I’ve always wondered why things are the way they are. I especially wonder now what we can do to change these things. Sociology is one of the greatest majors when it comes to figuring something like this out, it looks at systems like race, education, government, communities.

In the future I want to use the things you can learn by majoring in sociology to improve my community. I eventually want to get a job in the BAU or FBI. It’s important, especially in recent times, to have people who care and want to make a change for our community. People need toi fight for each other.

This scholarship would help me a lot with pursuing and taking some stress away from paying for college and help me focus on my school and internships more. This isn't just a subject to me, it’s making a difference in the world. Studying sociology will just help me do this on a bigger level.