Dariane Beamon

• 2012 Ask.com  High Hopes Scholarship recipient
• University of California, Berkeley

In my community environment I witness everything from fights to death. On a daily basis I see more and more girls running down the path of failure due to pregnancy, drugs and alcohol and getting involved with the wrong crowd. Most people in my community carry such aggressive and negative attitude, that I feel my safety is sometimes challenged. The life lessons learned form observing my community members fail to live to their fullest potential motivates me to succeed. I have realized that he only way out of the destitute predicament is to gain more knowledge through my position as Leadership President of my high school; I try to be a role model and encourager to my fellow student body to perform to the best of their academic abilities. I plan on using the negatives I see in my everyday life not only to better myself, but be a role model to my community and demonstrate the power in an educated African American young woman.

“Dariane is driven to be successful. She has high self esteem and expectations for herself and does not make excuses, regardless of the tragedy in her life.”

Teacher, Berkeley High School