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My Life And Life 's Trajectory Essay

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Where a person lives, can influence their life’s trajectory. Accesses to quality education and opportunities are determined by zip code. As I think about the access and opportunity gap, my thoughts often return to my high school graduation in June 1991. Experiencing childhood in Wellston, Missouri, a segregated, poverty-stricken community in Saint Louis, the importance of education was instilled at an early age. Watching television was not permitted while my mother was at work. Instead, books from libraries and secondhand shops were our source of entertainment. I cannot tell you how many times I read Roots and Gone with the Wind. In the 1960s, my mother was the only one out of our immediate family to graduate high school. Eventually, she gained a secretarial certificate to work on an army base. Having a secretarial certificate allowed her to uproot her family from Wellston before the school district lost its accreditation. After moving from school to school, we finally settled in my junior year in a middle class community that looked like us. The architecture of this school resembled a shopping mall with vast resources for students. Mathematics and science became my obsession, and I immersed myself in this new community, taking part in various clubs, learning, inventing and experimenting. Crossing the graduation stage, I recall visiting my guidance counselor’s office the day, Dr. Keener Tippin introduced himself. This towering man explained he was there to

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