Melissa Leon Hacer Scholarship Prompt: Please write an essay detailing your career goals, how you plan

to give back to your community, and how your family and cultural background have shaped who you are. From my bedroom window, if I squint my eyes hard enough, I can see the the top of the Sears Tower. As I turn to my left, I see the sky-high, barbed wire fence surrounding the large jail and the top of the factories. To the right, I see the gang-related taggings on the walls next to the bus stop sign on the corner that was hit was hit three months ago and was never fixed. Even though my neighborhood is not the best, it is still my community. I grew up in a Hispanic community who showed me the hard way that nothing in life given. At an early age, I was surrounded by people who worked minimum wage jobs and still did not have enough money to feed their families. My family was one of them. There are times when my refrigerator was completely empty with four hungry mouths in the family. I could see the pain in my dads eyes when he came home exhausted and starving from work. He would come home to an empty refrigerator. However, the hunger does not hurt as much as seeing a hungry four year old, looking for her milk. This shaped me. I started working at an early age to help my family out financially. I started out helping my mom and grandmother sell Mary Kay, and I am still currently employed. I do not want to work a minimum wage job that I strongly dislike. I want to wake up, doing what I love to do, and at the same time making a good amount of money to support myself and family. My uncle who has his college degree, does what he loves and gets to travel the world. I am determined to make my future like his, and I want to be able to give back to my hard working parents and help guide my sister through the college process. I want to major in biology. With my degree, I would like to become a forensic scientist. I find human anatomy very interesting. Additionally, I could use my biology background to do research for cancer cures or find more use of herbal medicine. My plans are then later to run a clinic. However, I would love to give back to my community by building the clinic in my neighborhood. My community helped me out when I was struggling, and it is always showing support of my education. That is why Im starting to make my positive multi-generational change in my community as a senior. I am organizing a health fair that will happen at my old school, so the community can learn about the importance about their health. This event will happen around early February. However, this is not the end. With my education and experience, I will be able to help guide other students who want to overcome the obstacles that come their way to receive their college education and make a difference in our community.