Winner of First Annual Scholarship

Thank you to all of those who contributed. Following is a brief Bio:


Biography of Jasmine Charie Walker
A young woman, who has demonstrated, strength,dedication, and focus, through many obstacles, toachieve her goals, Jasmine Charie Walker, is an exceptional student not only of the classroom but alsoof life. Jasmine’s story is not different from any other, young African American person, growing up in the ghetto, however, what makes her story great is the diligence it took for her to stay focus through it all to make to this point in her life. As a young mother, Murleen didn’t always make the right decisions for her little girl Jasmine, so she had the unfortunate experience of transferring from one school to the next, which at some point some kids would find that amount of instability difficult deal with and their grades may suffer to the point of no return and or they just dropped out, however, Jasmine excelled through it all. Remembering as far back as she can recall, Jasmine has always loved and adored mathematics. During her freshman & sophomore year of high school, she also realized the importance of education, as well as rediscovering why it is so important to stay focus on what is truly important, not what obstacles life maybring.
Jasmine joined VAPAA Visual and Performing Arts Academy at Palmdale High School, as a way of expressing her creativity in fashions designing,however, her love of mathematics never cease to exist. She continued to focus on studying and learning mathematics, even though she faced difficulty with a teacher, who didn’t love to teach mathematics, Jasmine never let that stop her or discourage her from learning. Jasmine would study different sections of the math book just to acquire more knowledge. Jasmine later joined Government Leadership Program, at Palmdale. Her mother have always toghether to “Be a Leader, not a Follower”. Joining this program reinforced what she was taught at home. She learned how to make decisions based on a chain command, how to follow-up, and how to complete a project.
However, things weren’t easy. During her sophomore year, her life took a turn. The saying “when lifegives you lemons make lemonade”. When life gave her lemons, she struggled at not giving up making lemonade. She received passing grades whenever shewas at school, but that wasn’t very often. At the end of her sophomore year, she received her grades to find, No Credits for two classes for poor attendance.She was devastated. From that moment on, with the help of her parents, grandparents, and her sheer determination, She went to summer school and made upthe missing credits and got herself back on track. She now realized the importance of staying focus on education.
After relocating once again, Jasmine moved to Mississippi and began attending Southaven, HighSchool. After enrollment she immediately joined Co-opthrough DECA, which is a work-study program and Jasmine has maintained a G.P.A. of 3.5 being ranked 79th in her class of 296 as well as worked part-time since her enrollment.
As a senior student, Jasmine reflects on the accomplishments she has achieved and the leaps and bounds she has made. Although times weren’t great, she has learned how to focus on a task at hand even when there is an abundant amount of pressure. She is dedicated to her studies and her work. Life will present difficult times and how we handle those times will determine our character. She is strong, smart,and dedicated to teaching others, to love mathematics just as she does. She came from a broken home,however, she is not a broken woman.
She will be attending University of Memphis in the fall of 2008 to achieve a degree in mathematics. She is thankful for this scholarship along with other that ensure her education will be paid for with the assistance of financial aid and work-study, so that she may motivate the minds of our future.