Frantz Barron Scholarship

Thinking back when asked how I am overcoming adversity made me think deeply about my childhood growing up. I grew up in a single-parent home with my mom and little brother. My mom use to work a part-time job for most of my elementary school years so she could make sure she was there for my brother and me. I was not able to go to private school at a young age because my mother could not afford it. My schools weren't the best but I had a team who cared about me and worked hard with my mom to make sure I learned and stayed focused. My mother put me in football and I feel that saved me. Saved me from trying to hang out with the kids who use to get in trouble in the streets. Overcoming adversity for me was that. I had something to look forward to doing daily after school. Something positive in my life since at that time I was having a hard time with my father not being present in my life. I feel that that bothered me the most because I couldn't understand why he wasn't there when I hadn't done anything to make him go away. My coaches in grammar school and high school were father figures in my life helping me overcome struggles in becoming a young man. I'm forever grateful for them. My mother made sure I never missed a practice or a game even when we didn't have a car. I feel like it is a daily struggle to be a young black man because we some much stacked against us. My mother decided to send me to a Catholic school to keep me on a good path to success. I learned to join community givebacks to help young mothers with children by talking to them even though I'm only 17 years old they too like me have a future. I also volunteer on my younger brother's football team as a mentor because a lot of the children that play come from broken homes as well. I teach them that they don't have to turn to the streets but to maintain a positive attitude and continue their education. Volunteering helps me stay aligned and stay out of trouble knowing I have multiple people that count on me. I want to continue being able to overcome adversity through the rest of my life because it is a continued fight.