My name is Asia McKenzie. I am 21 years old and I grew up in Athens OH, where I attended Ohio University through College Credit Plus for two years. I am currently a student at The Ohio State University earning a Bachelor of Arts in Air Transportation with a Private Pilot Certification and RATP in the College of Arts and Sciences; I am double majoring in a Bachelor of Science in Geographic Information Science. Additionally, I am pursuing minors in Chemistry as well as Security & Intelligence. I am able to do so because I earned numerous scholarships including OSU’s most prominent scholarship: called the Eminence Fellowship, as well as the nationally recognized Jack Kent Cooke Scholarship and the OSU Engineering Dean’s Scholarship; I am a Dell Scholar, a Children’s Defense Fund Beat the Odds Scholar, a Horatio-Alger Scholar, and a Carson Scholar.  I aspire to work as an aerial firefighter for the National Parks Service, and to volunteer for aviation medical transport.

When I was 16, my family and I became homeless, and many of my family members still struggle with stable and clean housing; the only reason that I am able to maintain stable housing is because of the scholarships that have supported my education. When I first became homeless, in order to continue my education, I remained in Athens, Ohio to take dual enrollment classes at Ohio University. I  spent the majority of those last two years living away from my family, renting rooms in the city, while working part-time. For six months, I lived in a shelter with my mother, and for a few weeks, my father lived in a tent in the woods.

I would say the issue I am most passionate about is the issue of poverty and homelessness in the U.S. and around the world. With a degree in aviation, I aspire to have a successful career, full of significant promotions and achievements. Through my economic success, I want to build stability for myself and for my homeless family, and eventually work towards helping others in unfortunate situations build economic stability. Throughout and after my education, I hope to achieve and improve my skill set, knowledge, character, and experience to make changes in the world involving social issues, especially poverty. I will use my education to help other youth suffering from poverty and homelessness realize their potential and their opportunities for higher education. Once I enter the workforce and have beat homelessness, I will use my experience and knowledge to spread information about the causes and effects of poverty in order to end stereotypes, while also working to encourage universities, governments, and communities to change the ways that they approach the issue of poverty and to reflect on what they can do to help those suffering under homelessness and poverty. For the majority of my life, I will use my education and career to ensure that no one is denied the basic necessities and opportunities of life.

My experiences throughout my life have shaped who I am today and my aspirations in my career, research, volunteering, and in life. Because my past has been a constant struggle with poverty and homelessness, I have been taught to persevere, adapt, and always speak out about my experiences and knowledge in order to enact change. Through my past, I have learned of the challenges that the poor, homeless (especially the youth), and the disabled face in modern America and of how American society and capitalism places value on people based off of what they produce to be consumed and profited off of. Because of this knowledge, my determination to achieve higher education, help provide stability for my family and myself, and for others in the U.S. and around the world has been constant and unwavering. I am a first-generation college student, as I enjoy breaking down barriers and never shy away from a challenge in my life.

I plan on regularly volunteering for medical transportation by airplane once I earn my license, in order to help the poor, disabled, ill, and those without means. Because my family and I are poor, we constantly struggle to find reliable transportation anywhere, including the hospital, and it was one of the reasons that lead to the exacerbation of my mother’s health problems and death, so I am deeply passionate about assisting others with medical transportation; I want to ensure that poverty does not lead to debilitating illnesses, injuries, or death. Everyone should already have access to equal transportation, and I want to contribute meaningfully to this effort in the U.S. and perhaps one day, internationally.

Most importantly, I will continue to work with and inform the legislature of the challenges that the poor and homeless face and the possible solutions to their problems through the Ohio Children’s Defense Fund. As a poor and homeless person, I always felt ignored by and hidden from the rest of American society, and I believe that we are a forgotten piece of American society. In my experience, people are often ignorant of the specific and significant challenges that the poor, homeless, and disabled face; through my speeches, talks, and involvement, I hope to spread knowledge about these issues, and especially how they affect the youth and how the difficulties can be exacerbated when these issues overlap with one another. Often, when I tell people about the difficulties I faced growing up, they can’t accept such a reality in a wealthy, developed country like the U.S. People simply don’t know how challenging it is to be poor and homeless, and the systematic governmental, educational, medical, etc. barriers that we face on a day-to-day basis. I want to inform people so that others in America who are still facing these challenges feel as if the society around them cares about them and their difficulties, and most importantly, acknowledges that they exist.

Because I value freedom so I highly, I aspire to be a pilot. I have always been passionate about the field of transportation, as growing up poor I couldn’t go anywhere, leaving me with a constant feeling of being trapped in one place. Because of my experiences, I understand the pivotal role that transportation, and lack of access to it, can play in a person’s life. I never want to be trapped in a single place again, so I am training to be a pilot, which gives me the freedom that poverty and homelessness have denied me. Additionally, piloting is a male-dominated field; I have a love of challenge and breaking down barriers because my experiences have taught me that my life is never going to be easy, so I might as well make it exciting and embrace the challenges and the privilege of knocking down walls

Because I value altruism so highly, I aspire to become an aerial firefighter for the National Park Service in order to help people in a substantial way on a daily basis and to assist with conservation efforts. Through the challenges I have faced, I have become an adaptable and levelheaded person, with the ability to function and complete high-level, involved tasks while under constant stress and anxiety in high-risk situations. I developed those qualities while poor and homeless working towards my education and surviving on my own from a young age; I had to function in my education and work, while worrying about attaining basic necessities, meaning that stress, anxiety, and high risks characterized my adolescence. I have become accustomed to not having a safe or stable life, forced to constantly adapt to new challenges and problems in order to create solutions and plans in order to survive and obtain the privilege of higher education; therefore, I feel suited to a career like aerial firefighting, where I will be in stressful environments, requiring me to remain calm and levelheaded, while thinking quickly to solve significant problems.