"“Why do you want to be a teacher?”, is a question all teacher candidates are asked during their undergraduate journey. Most will say because they absolutely love children. My response is always unique because I am one of the 20 percent in the making to become an educator of minority descent. Approximately, 80 percent of all educators in this country, United States of America, are of Anglo-
European descent. Studies have shown that if a minority child receives a teacher of their racial background, then he/she has a better chance of attaining a high school diploma. In this moment, I reflect on the educators I have had in my primary years of schooling and I can count on one hand the amount of black educators I have had. I want to become an educator because I want to serve as an
advocator and mentor for academically, linguistically, and culturally diverse students. Minority students come from backgrounds and familial environments different of their white counterparts. Some face living in single parent households, poverty, or dysfunctionality within the family. These issues are prevalent in minority families because I too have watched my mother attempt to take on the roles and responsibilities of both a mother and a father. Often, minority students do not have an adequate role model in the household or a healthy, supportive, and encouraging relationship with an adult. My dream is to be the
educator who guides my students into the direction they are more than capable of steering into, if provided the directions. I will pour into my students’ essential self-affirmations, knowledge, and appraisals. My students will walk into my classroom one way and leave every day feeling more confident, worthy, and powerful than they came.  As a primary school teacher to come, I will inform my students the importance of obtaining a degree; which is to have ownership of something that you have achieved and maintained that no one can confiscate and make into their own. My Bachelors of Science degree in Elementary Education from Northern Illinois University will give me the opportunity to teach, engage, and interact with black and brown children. Children who often do not encounter educators who look like them, speak like them, and most of all, comprehend them.  With my degree, I can serve as a mentor to my students. With a similar background as theirs, I will show them that I am the hope and
the dream of a slave and they can be one too. With my degree, I can serve as an advocator for academically, culturally, and linguistically diverse students from all sorts of backgrounds and walks of life.  My goal is to be a part of the less than twenty percent black educator population. My aim is to impact, support, and affirm all students of varying socio-economic backgrounds. My desire is to demonstrate how I turned my dream of becoming a black educator into my reality.  My aspiration is to share with my students the challenges I faced, endured, and surpassed to get the privilege to stand before them, letting them know that black lives, black teachers, and black degrees, indeed do matter! I believe I am a qualified candidate of the Community Service Block Grant Scholarship because of my resiliency, perseverance, and empowerment. A character trait I have always admired about myself is my dedication to never give up. I could have thrown in the towel countless times, but I know my future students need me to remain adaptable, courageous, and diligent."