Hi! I am 19-year-old Kelin Leiva, and I live in Belize City. I was born on November 5, 2001. I live within a family of 8 including my three brothers, parents, aunt, nephew, and myself. My youngest brother is attending Buttonwood Bay Nazarene Primary School, my other brother is attending Canaan High School in 2nd form, and my older brother takes work from different places when he can. My father, who is the main income earner works at AQ Belize car rental on the Philip Goldson Highway but sadly he doesn't make enough to provide for the family plus afford me going to college anymore. I was currently attending St. John's College Junior College where I was heading to get my associates degree; my situation is a little complicated because I had already finished my first and second semester but unfortunately, my parents could not continue to find the funds for me to move forward so I had to take the year off. But this year I am determined to continue to live up to my future and I do not want to take any more time off my studies. I want to be able to make my parents proud and repay them for all the sacrifices they have made for me.

I will work extremely hard to get to the top and I want to overcome these obstacles that I am facing. Throughout my education, I've faced a lot of difficulties first and foremost financial barriers, however I never gave up. Every time I fell, I would find a way to stand up on my feet again, becoming stronger than before. This goes to show that I will push myself beyond the limits to what I'm striving for. I graduated from high school as Valedictorian even with all my setbacks and it is for this reason I strongly believe I deserve this scholarship. I have the potential and the ability to do the best in school but I don’t have the funds to continue what I once started. Like every young person, I have goals that I want to achieve. My major goal is to use my knowledge to start my own small business. I will continue to keep on studying extremely hard and keep pushing forward. I believe that God is always leading me through the right path and giving me the strength to keep moving forward. I would like my story to encourage others to never give up on their goals, although there were multiple times I could have given up, I did not and it has gotten me where I am today. Thank you for considering my application, I hope to hear from you soon.