Jenessa

I grew up in a single-parent household where my mom juggled the role of being the sole provider and caregiver to my brother, who has special needs. This often meant she faced periods of unemployment during my childhood, making things very difficult at times.

My mom instilled the idea of pursuing a college education in us from a young age, she wanted us to go to college and aim for a better future. She explained how a degree was a way out of the economic challenges we were facing and would provide us with a lot of opportunities.
 
Because I was always a high-achieving student, the idea of not going to college never crossed my mind. The big question was how to pay for it. I knew I could go to college, but I was not sure if I could afford to attend my dream school without going into debt.

As a first-generation student, the college application process was tedious and unfamiliar. I had my heart set on attending an HBCU, but I knew that finding the funding would be hard. Luckily, Katrina, my uAspire advisor, had resources that made the most intimidating parts of the process easy. 

She taught me how to be proactive and utilize available resources like scholarship support. I went from thinking attending an HBCU was out of reach to having my entire cost of attendance covered. Thanks to uAspire and my advisor, I gained the confidence and knowledge to navigate my path towards my dream school.

I am looking forward to the opportunities that are coming my, and  I am excited to be one step closer to the goals I have set for myself. A college education and degree mean the world to me. It will be proof of the result of the work I put in and proof that none of my or my moms's efforts were in vain.