Bravonne Brooks Who am I? Speech 02/08/2022 Who am I? Who am I? I am a tree who cannot detach itself from its roots and past. Everything about the person I am becoming came from my roots. My trunk is the strong, creative, hardworking, empathetic part of me. My leaves and branches are the futuristic passionate person I am becoming. My roots make me a dedicated hard worker. I lived with my grandad most of my life. My mom gave my sister and I up at an early age and let him raise us. At this point in life, I was only 9 years old feeling abandoned and feeling like no one loved me anymore. I was a reckless child but all of that changed once I got into a classroom. My grandad pushed my sister and I to be great in school and not worry about the outside world’s influences. I had to become strong at an incredibly young age. worked hard to prove to my mom that I was lovable and tried to prove to myself that I was worth everything in life. This was not what a 9-year-old should go through thinking about having something to prove instead of enjoying my last 2 years of elementary school. My grandfather raising me were my roots and made me into the thriving woman I am. My trunk holds all my strength, my courage, and my empathetic version of me. I am the strong friend. I have gone through a lot. People are surprised when I tell them about the hardships I’ve had to go through before the age of 21. I try to hold in everything I go through and help everyone else first because I care so much. The things that I have been through in life and the pressure put on me to succeed. I have been homeless, sleeping in cars, and struggling ever since I got out of high school. This was after I decided not to go to college. I had to build myself back up to become someone I loved. I came to this school so that I can achieve success. I wanted to be able to turn my life around for the better and help people. I went from being homeless, from not having money, from not being able to keep a job to having my own hair business, working for myself, and going back into school. I became the change that I wanted for myself 2 years ago. I am a thriving, dedicated, strong, hard-working, and respectable young Black woman trying to succeed in a system that is against me.
