I view my life as a puzzle; gathering pieces through my beliefs, experiences and passions and placing them in their designated positions. It's only when I created the edge and most of the center that I started to see what my puzzle should become. My image is starting to show that my purpose is to help people, particularly through legal capacity. Author Jen Leaman wrote, “The human race is like a puzzle: everyone fits into a place, it just takes a while to figure it out.” Raised in Browns Mills, New Jersey, even though we struggled as a military family. Several stints of experiencing homelessness only pushed me to work hard so that my family and I would no longer have to struggle. To these difficulties I added boundaries (my values ​​and work ethic) to my puzzle. While attendance is nowhere near complete, Emory Law will continue to impact and add pieces to my puzzle. My first confrontation with widespread racism occurred during high school, an experience that first motivated me to attend law school. Attending a culturally diverse school, racial differences were never an issue until sophomore year. It was then that I, an African American, was faced with the glaring realization that racism against us persisted. My predominantly African-American cheerleading team attended a football game where spectators from the home team shouted racial slurs when we entered. At the end of the match a racially motivated brawl broke out. I was livid, amazed and confused. That night I learned that although discrimination laws have changed, there remain parts of society that have not changed with them. While it pushed me to learn about my culture, this event also pushed me to fight stereotypes through my action… medium of paper… pieces of paper for my developing masterpiece . My personal and educational journey growing up in college and subsequent professional experience provided an avenue for a career choice, working in the legal field. I learned that the law protects at all levels, from the multimillionaire client to the single mom who can barely feed her children. It is through this that I can continue to make a difference in my life and the lives of others. Emory Law offers me the opportunity to further my goals through its International Humanitarian Law Clinic, Veterans Volunteer Clinic, and multiple opportunities to help others through my growing legal knowledge while in school. All of this would add pieces to my puzzle and help bring the bigger picture of my puzzle into focus. By attending Emory Law I will continue to create change by helping and ultimately find my place in this larger human puzzle.