Here is the link to the prompt"
26866a52b05332f6335894de1aa50843cd2cfcef.gripelements.com/pdf/MSP/essay1.pdf
Talk show host and author, Montel Williams, once said "no one tells every white person in this country how to be. No one tells every Hispanic or Asian or Jewish person in this country how to be. There is no single definition of whiteness or single definition of blackness". I am the product of a single parent household. I grew up in the North Central area of Columbus. Statistically and stereotypically, I am more likely than my counterparts to be less educated and more violent. My life has been an active stand against these stereotypes prompted by the infamous "Moynihan Report" and other scholarly resources by defining my own brand of blackness that would contribute to diversity at the Ohio State University.
My socio-economic background has influence my life because I grew up in a family that embodies middle-class values and the American Dream. My family is only 4 generations removed from slavery but in those 4 generations has produced doctors, professors, and entrepreneurs. This is due to my grandfather's commitment to his eight children's educations. At some points, he would work 3 jobs to make sure that all 8 of his children could go to college. He used typical middle class values to uplift himself and his family. These values were passed onto my mother who in turn passed off this legacy of hard work and value in education to me. I feel as if this value is present in the University but I could contribute with my family and mine's diverse experiences.
Due to my commitment to my education, throughout my life I have always been deemed as "not black enough" or faced even harsher criticisms of my blackness. I receive this because I went to private school for elementary and middle school instruction surrounded by primarily white students and all white teachers. I also try to speak proper English and avoid slang. I am also politically ostracized because of libertarian ideals. Law professor, Stephen Carter, makes the egregious claim that "there are no black conservatives. There are neoconservatives with black skin, but they lack any claim to blackness other than the biological. They have forgotten their roots." I may not be a conservative but the fact that he would try to lump all blacks as being one political ideology is heinous. Despite the ostracism I receive from my community, it has only influenced me to try to help it.
Due to my mother's job as Director of Community Development at the Ohio State University, I have been exposed to many different cultures and circumstances. I realized that this essay is supposed to be how my own cultural and socio-economic background as influenced my life but as I have come in contact with many other cultures, faiths, and beliefs. I have incorporated them into who I am. Due to the spirit of multiculturalism I have gained because of my mother's work; I have opportunities to broaden my horizons and see how to view other cultures view their history. By seeing how different societies view their history, it caused me to become more interested in my family history as well as the history of Black America which influenced my interest in helping to strengthen the African-American nation. Through the Morrill Scholarship Program, I could contribute my spirit of multiculturalism to Ohio State.
I was able to actively be involved with strengthening my community through an internship at the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at the Ohio State University. This research environment that the University provided me combined with my drive to help my community provided my life with a new direction. While I was there and afterwards, I knew that my place was in an academic atmosphere facilitating change through policy research. While I was there, I studied digital inequities in 4 Central Ohio middle schools. The preliminary research was suggesting that gap was less of an access one and more of a usage one. This valuable research experience provided me with a unique perspective by changing how I perceive my own cultural background and what I could do to promote diversity and help my community.
My selection as a Morrill Scholarship Program scholar would enhance diversity at the Ohio State University because I throughout my life I have been exposed to different cultures and ideas and much like a sponge. I have incorporated them into my life. Friedrich Nietzsche once said, "at bottom every man knows well enough that he is a unique being, only once on this earth; and by no extraordinary chance will such a marvelously picturesque piece of diversity in unity as he is, ever be put together a second time." I am unique in the sense that I have to define myself because I am not enough "black enough" to be black. Despite the fact that I have been ostracized by my peers, I have demonstrated to be committed to my cultural background and preservation of it. In conclusion, my selection would allow me to better myself, contribute to the diversity of Ohio State, and eventually use the education that I would receive from OSU to give back to my community.
Let's fix up this important part of the essay: the end of the first paragraph.
My life has been an active stand against these stereotypes promoted by the infamous "Moynihan Report" and other scholarly resources; I have embodied my own brand of blackness, and I believe it is something meaningful that I can contribute to diversity at the Ohio State University.
I like that thought very much. This is an important affirmation of our responsibility to resist stereotypes and create our futures in a proactive way.
This is very good. The quote at the end is perfect.
I think you should only use "Due to my" to start one paragraph, not 2 paragraphs..
