Liannet Bergantino says her mother’s work helping people has been an inspiration ever since she was a child.Next fall the Intrepid College Prep Independence Academy High School graduating senior will follow that inspiration to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Bergantino plans to pursue a career in healthcare and continue down the path she started in high school of serving her community.

Soulsville Charter School senior Elisha Muhammad says a high school internship set her on a new path to advocate for those trying to overcome systemic barriers.

When E’Janay Reynolds was eight years old, she, her mother, and two younger sisters found themselves living in the Chattanooga Homeless Shelter for roughly seven months.Though her mother was eventually able to get federal Section 8 assistance to move the family into housing, this drastic change gave Reynolds a push to focus on school.“Academically, it just gave me a push to be better and do better. Because, if I didn’t do it, who else would have (done) it?” said Reynolds. “I just had to push to ‘okay, go in school, be the best you can be because you’re going to need that to get somewhere in life’.”

Kalen Sy learned the value of education at an early age.His grandmother and mother repeatedly stressed the importance of education, and it charted a path forward.“I was like, 'I'm gonna go to college, I'm (going to) successfully complete college, get something and obtain something out of it other than just a piece of paper and a handshake.' I wanted to get something out of it. So, yes, my mom, single parent mom, she really wanted my brother and (me) to just be something great. She always wanted us to value education and soak up education and anything that we were doing in a public school. Because like my grandma always told me, she said, after high school you have to pay for every little thing, even a pencil is not free,” said Sy.

Games have a way of expanding the world around us by introducing worldbuilding, writing, art, and fantasy.For Knowledge Academies senior James Loc, the game Skyrim expanded his world and his future.“I love Skyrim,” wrote James Loc in his Choice Champions Scholarship essay. “I remember back in 2012 coming home from school, turning on the television, and spending the rest of my day immersed in a world of might, magic, and dragons. I loved how there was an entire universe held within the television, and I mean literally. Like many children who grew up playing video games, or consuming any form of entertainment, I truly believed that everything shown actually existed somewhere in the universe, or at least inside the television. I clearly remember peeking into the speakers of the television every time I shut it off, hoping to see the characters or creatures inside unwinding and relaxing after a session of quests and adventures, all to no avail.”Loc was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Asian immigrant parents who came to the states to make a better life for themselves and their family. Two months later, the family decided to escape the cold weather and move to Antioch, Tennessee where Loc eventually enrolled in public school.