1. Personal Statement
My name is Karlee White. I am eighteen years old, and I am a senior at Veterans
High School.
I have known my best friend since I was 7 months old. Her mom was my
babysitter. We were together all the time, and we were practically sisters. When we were
in the fourth grade, her dad died from cancer. A year later, her and her mom moved to
New York.
Going into middle school was difficult because my closest friend was gone. By
the end of sixth grade, things were hard. There were some family issues going on, that I
had no control over. I had not seen my brother in over a year, and my niece's mother
decided that she did not want to let us see her anymore. This hurt me terribly. I prayed
every night that we would be able to see her again. Soon, I started having problems with
anxiety. I had terrible nightmares, and was scared to be alone. At one point, I was so
consumed by it that I couldn’t even walk outside by myself. I wasn't sure what I believed,
and I felt hopeless. It had been almost a year since we had seen my niece, and I was in a
bad place. On Valentine's day, we received a letter in the mail, from her grandmother. She
now had custody of Alana, and said that she missed us, and would love to see us. It felt as
if God was giving me a wake up call. Pretty soon after, I started going to church again,
and I rededicated my life to Christ.
In August 2012, I came to Veterans High school as an awkward, self-conscious
freshman. I was still dealing with anxiety, and I hated speaking in front of people. Most
of the time I tried to hide in class, so the teacher wouldn’t call on me. During the second
week of school, I was transferred into a class called Business Essentials. The first week in

2. his class, I realized that I would not be able to hide in the back of the classroom. That
Friday, we watched a power point about FBLA, and were encouraged to join. At first, I
joined because Mrs. Collier, our teacher, said that we would have class time on Fridays to
work on FBLA stuff, and I thought that I wouldn't have to talk in class as much. Soon, I
got involved, and realized how cool it was. I felt like I was accepted by the group, and
that was an amazing feeling.
That year, Mrs. Collier, told me that she was going to get me to come out of my
shell, and I did not believe her. My sophomore year, I was secretary of FBLA and I had to
start speaking at meetings, and it was terrifying. My junior year, I was Vice President. I
had to start speaking more, and that pushed me to overcome my nerves. I competed In
Business presentation, and my partner and I placed fourth in our region. I applied to be a
region officer in January of that year, and about a month later, I found out that I was
accepted. Over the summer, I went to Region Officer Academy. This was an interesting
experience because I didn’t know many of the other officers. While we were there, the
main thing that we worked on was public speaking. There were several activities where
we had to stand up and speak in front of the entire room. At first, it was terrible, but it
soon became easier.
Currently, I serve as our chapter president, and region 5 vice president. I have
overcome much of my anxiety, and I am no longer afraid to speak in front of people. I
never believed it was possible, but I did come out of my shell.
Next year, I plan to major in psychology. I hope to become a faith based
counselor, so that I can help others overcome their problems, and achieve their goals. As
Elphaba says in Wicked, “Everyone deserves their chance to fly.”