From a very young age, my mother has instilled in me and my three other siblings that education is the most important thing to have in life. That way of thinking has continued to follow me throughout all aspects of my life. By my senior year of high school, I knew I wanted nothing more than to have the opportunity to attend Florida State University. However, I knew growing up in a single parent household that the cost of tuition and housing would not be something that my mother or I could afford. I decided to attend my community college in Miami for two years so that I could save up money to hopefully transfer to FSU. By the end of my two years it was time to apply to FSU and try my luck at becoming a Nole. But while I was applying I began to realize that even with the money I had saved it still wouldn’t be enough for me to cover the cost of both tuition and housing.
My Alternative Breaks advisor and my guidance counselor, as I like to call her, mentioned to me Southern Scholarship Foundation. As I listened to her describe the scholarship and everything it entailed it seemed a little too good to be true. A scholarship where you only had to pay a small fee, no rent, and all they ask in return is that you work hard in school and keep a certain GPA?! It was everything my mom has been teaching me to do since I was a kid. I luckily was accepted into FSU but unfortunately was placed on the wait list for SSF. But luckily, I received an email one day informing me that SSF was giving me the chance to be interviewed and have the chance to possibly be accepted in the SSF community. I was so blessed and grateful to have been accepted and am now living with 20 of the most amazing girls you could find.
This semester I took on the responsibility of becoming Business Manager and it has shown to have some of its own challenges but it has also helped me grow as a person, a leader, and has also allowed me to give back to the house that has given me so much. Being in a place with new people and new surroundings, SSF has truly been one of the biggest support systems here for me. All of the SSF staff as well as my amazing house members, have always been there to push me and continue to support me in everything I do. I currently having been living in the Pilot house for one semester now and while I only have one more year left, I wish I could’ve had more time with SSF and more time to continue to show them how grateful I am for everything that they do for not only me but for all of the students here at SSF.
