"Let's play school, I"ll be the teacher." My sister and childhood friends have heard that phrase countless times. Since I was a child, I have had a desire to reach out to people. As soon as I learned to tie my shoes, so did my five best friends. The giving of intangible gifts has always appealed to me. As I grew older I began to appreciate the long chats with my grandparents about life experiences much more than the brightly wrapped gifts they gave me. That appreciation has stayed with me, and comes to me when I think of the legacy of an institute such as Howard University. .
Considering what I could possibly add to the legacy of an institution so rich in history and culture seems like a daunting task. The knowledge I will gain from attending Howard University extends far beyond the classroom. Growing up in predominately white neighborhoods in the Midwest and Orange County, California, has left a personal void in my life. Though I have family in the South, I have never had the opportunity to be completely immersed in my culture. There is such richness in the thought of attending Howard University. For 136 years, young African Americans have gathered to seek higher education and the camaraderie of their peers. Subsequently, their pursuits have in some way given back to the community. As for me, my path leads right to the schoolhouse I have dreamed of since I was a child. Undoubtedly I will encounter inspirational professors at Howard, but they will also be my first black teachers, something I have never experienced. I want to become that inspirational teacher that the student from Mission Viejo can relate to. I don't want my future students to have wait to reach college before they have a teacher who relates to the world as they do: who has empathy for their struggles. I want to reach students who lack both a culturally and economically diverse experience. I would love to go into a school in Harlem and connect with students who think I could not possibly understand their lives, since I come from Orange County.
