Becoming a Morelli Scholar is an incredible honor and means so much to me. I am thrilled to accept the 2024 Joseph James Morelli Legacy Foundation Scholarship to help pay for college! I am attending Auburn University to earn a degree in Industrial Engineering. This year, I lived on campus in the Honors Dorm, where two of my roommates were engineers. I was also part of the Engineering Residential Learning Community, which helped me transition from high school to college and allowed me to meet other students pursuing similar engineering degrees. I have become active both on and off campus. I am a member of the Society of Women Engineers and regularly attend 100+ Women Strong Dine and Derive events. I also participate in Auburn United Methodist Church and the Wesley Foundation, where I continue service projects. Volunteering is essential to my life, as I want to give back to my community. I plan to intern for an engineering company in North Alabama. Upon graduation, I aim to begin my engineering career, applying what I have learned to improve and optimize processes to help people with learning challenges. However, I face three extenuating circumstances that impact my college journey. First, my father, the primary source of my family’s income, had cancer and underwent eight weeks of daily radiation this past fall, resulting in a three-month disability leave. Although the cancer is no longer detectable and he has returned to work, I still worry about him and our family’s financial stability. Second, my family will have two children in college simultaneously, my brother and me, for at least one year. This overlap will further strain our finances, and I aim to graduate with the least debt possible. Your scholarship is a tremendous blessing in this regard. Finally, coping with dyslexia has been a significant life experience that has shaped me into who I am today. Thanks to the Joseph James Morelli Legacy Foundation, I am learning to advocate for myself and master strategies to manage my dyslexia, which I believe will continue to contribute to my academic success at Auburn University.

Read Austin High senior turns challenge of dyslexia into motivation and inspires girls STEM, a Yahoo News article about Reagan.