Legacy is Louder Than Noise: Turning a Family Background into a Future Major by Isa

Legacy is Louder Than Noise: Turning a Family Background into a Future Major by Isa - October 2026 Scholarship Essay

Growing up in an entrepreneurial household, business and real estate were always part of the background noise. My parents were always on the phone with clients or contractors; my siblings and I had spent many weekends loading up the minivan to check on tenants or flyer for the next Open House and then return home to help dad prep docs and permits for the next heavy haul route. Business was woven into the fabric of our household. However, I didn’t truly see my future in business until a high school scheduling conflict mistakenly placed me in an introductory real estate course.

That conflict landed me in the front row of Real Estate I in 10th grade which later influenced me to choose Real Estate as my Career and Technical Education (CTE) pathway. I eagerly immersed myself in hands-on coursework, excelling in projects that required me to design a mock real estate agency and market original business concepts. So many of the terms were familiar to me because of my parents’ careers, I knew all about contracts, inspections, escrow and earnest deposits. When the teacher asked about due diligence, I could hear my mom’s voice in my head as she discussed deals in her home office. Yet, my true intellectual breakthrough occurred during the Commercial Real Estate Development Associate (CREDA) summer program at Drexel University.

For our final capstone project, our team was tasked with designing a comprehensive redevelopment plan for a vacant building in Philadelphia. This project instantly sparked my curiosity because it forced me to bridge the gap between classroom theory and real-world execution. It wasn't just a hypothetical case study; it required us to synthesize market statistics, financial viability models, local zoning ethics, and commercial licensing requirements to envision a future for the abandoned building.

I hesitantly stepped into the role of group leader and the project quickly challenged my existing assumptions about business, teamwork and Philadelphia real estate. Our team was comprised of ambitious students with strong, often conflicting, ideas on how the property should be utilized. The real work happened outside the spreadsheets and research. I faced the challenge of balancing these intense, competing perspectives under a tight deadline. Rather than trying to force a single viewpoint, I learned to analyze the merit of conflicting opinions, combine team members with like-minded views, and delegate tasks based entirely on my peers' unique strengths. It was a daunting task, but I stepped up and always kept the group goals at the forefront. We did not win 1st place or runner up for that matter but the project ignited an even deeper passion for real estate – the noise was really loud!

The capstone project profoundly deepened my understanding of Business Management; it taught me that a startup or redevelopment requires grit, determination, and collaboration. Before the CREDA capstone, I viewed business operations primarily through an analytical and structural lens—focused on numbers, logistics, and data. Real Estate and business were what my parents did, I couldn’t see past that when I was told to hand out flyers for the next renovation, or make copies for tenant lease signings and open houses. The summer program helped me realize how much real estate and business management are central components of my identity. The project gave me the confidence and insight needed to pursue a degree in Business. It only took 15 years to realize that my future was always buzzing around waiting for me to turn the volume all the way up. Now the vision is crystal clear and audible.