Usher Raymond Scholarship

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Recommended: The Civil Rights Movement in the US

“To be a great champion you must believe you are the best. If you're not, pretend you are.” - Muhammad Ali. When we pretend we are successful the brain conditions itself to become successful. When we develop the mind-set of a champion we persuade our brains that we are champions. Acting as champions can persuade our brains that we are champions well before we achieved the goal of becoming a champion. When we see ourselves as champions, we ignore the failures in our lives. Ali's quote is one that motivates us to remain optimistic. Some artistic works that express optimism are the movies, The Pursuit of Happyness and Soul Surfer, as well as the songs, Roar by Katy Perry and A Change is Gonna Come by Sam Cooke.

The Pursuit of Happyness, is a movie that displays how a struggling salesman has dreams of becoming a successful businessman and achieves his dream by remaining optimistic. Chris Gardner and his son Christopher Jr. were homeless for a year and even when times hit rock bottom Chris Sr. instilled the idea of optimism in his son. One particular conversation between Chris and his son went like this “ Chris Sr : Probably means there's a good chance. Possibly means we might or we might not. Chris Jr: okay. Chris Sr: So what does probably mean? Chris Jr: It means we have a good chance!” When I hear probably I assume that the chances of something happening are low, but in Chris's situation he looked at the glass as half full instead of half empty. Chris wanted his son to have hope that they would attend the baseball game. There was also another scene in the movie that went as follows “ Chris Sr: You gotta trust me, alright? Chris Jr: I trust you. Chris Sr: 'cause I'm getting a better job.” In this situation, Chris Sr vi...

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...ve influenced me to remain optimistic because in each situation the underdog became successful and overcame their obstacles. They all prove to be my favorites because I am able to relate to each one individually. I can relate to The Pursuit of Happyness because of my financial struggles, Roar by Katy Perry because there were situations in my life in which I had to remind myself how strong I am, Soul Surfer because as a cheerleader and field hockey player, I had to overcome many injuries, and A Change is Gonna Come by Sam Cooke because the Civil Rights Movement is my history! When I start my journey at an HBCU for the next 4 years, there will be times when I will feel like I want to quit,but each time that I do, I will reflect on each of these artistic works and use them as motivation to remain optimistic with the hopes that something positive is waiting to happen.

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