Dedicate Yourself to More by Jamel

Dedicate Yourself to More by Jamel - July 2025 Scholarship Essay

If I could give one piece of advice to my past self—or anyone for that matter—it would be exactly as my title states: dedicate yourself to more. I have moved through life without a clear purpose for far too long—not because I didn’t care, but because I didn’t know what to care about. I often let time pass without direction, and in doing so, I missed out on chances to grow, to build skills, and to chase meaningful goals. If I had realized earlier how much power lies in consistent effort and self-investment, I would’ve spent less time inside scrolling away on my phone aimlessly or picking up the sticks for hours at a time, all while waiting for purpose to find me and not even realizing it consciously.

When I say dedicate yourself to more, that means making use of the 86,400 seconds that we are all afforded each day. I have dabbled in many expertise, but too often I wouldn’t fully commit. Soccer, track and field, traditional art, digital art, and so many other skills that I could have transformed into something profitable—or at the very least, something I could show off to others. Too many times I said, “I’ll do it later” or “this’ll take too long.” And every time I said such a phrase, in retrospect I feel like I betrayed myself.

The beauty in this is that it isn’t too late. And that truth holds even more weight for someone my age. Nowadays, I approach life with much more intentionality than my past self did. While I can’t change the past, I can build a future with purpose. That mindset shift is one of the main motivations that pushed me to continue my education. I now pursue my bachelor's degree not just for a diploma, but to prove to myself that I can stay committed, even when it’s difficult. To me, applying for this scholarship represents more than just a plea for money—it’s a reflection of the mindset I wish I’d embraced sooner: to actively chase what matters to me—to dedicate myself to more.