Three Influential People

My grandma and Papa.

Someone who has influenced me:

My grandma has always been my role model. She's worked hard to get where she is today. Born and raised in Southwest Detroit, or more specifically Delray. Her mother passed away at a young age, so she had to raise her four other sibling, she is the second eldest of five. Later, she graduated from Southwestern High School, and had a daughter in 1976 (my mother). She was a single parent, but she took care of what was needed to provide for her child and herself. A few years later, she met the love of her life. They had a son together in 1980, and then were married in 1987. She found the one thing everyone looks for, someone to help you build up your life. While working full-time and being a mother, she went to college. She first attended Detroit College of Business and received her undergrad degree. At Wayne State University, she majored in Information and Records Management, and later received her Masters in Library and Information Science. Some of the places she worked at was the Joe Louis Arena as a Computer Operator, Great Lakes Bancorp as a Records Retention Specialist, and worked at a law firm that handled asbestos class action litigation. Currently, she is working at a major law firm located in the Renaissance Center in Downtown, Detroit. I look up to her, she is the example I want to follow. She overcame all her obstacles and is living a great life. She has five beautiful granddaughters and a loving husband whom she has been married to for 29 years. She is one of the reasons I am going to college, I want to be as successful in life as she is. She always encourages me to do my very best, no matter what I'm up against.

Mrs Johnson and her husband.

Someone who has influenced many:  

Mrs .Johnson has been a Kumon Instructor for 17 years. She has her Masters in English and received her teaching degree at Madonna University. She opened her first Kumon center in August 1999, and then the second in April 2002. Since then, she has helped over 2,000 students learn how to read and comprehend what they read at a quicker pace, and become better at figuring out math problems. I became a student of hers when I was in 2nd grade, and now I'm an employee. If it wasn't for her constant encouragement that I can figure out the problems in front of me, I wouldn't be as intelligent as I am today. All these years at Kumon, I've watched struggling students catch up to their grade level in a few months, and some even go further, and it's all because of Mrs. Johnson. And now, my younger cousin and little sister are enrolled into Kumon, I always tell them that Kumon will help them in the future. Any child can come into one her centers and learn, no matter how smart or inadequate they are. She believes every child has the potential to become smarter than they are. By becoming better with reading and math, the child's self-esteem goes up, and they'll want to learn more. Every year, she holds an award ceremony to give trophies to the children to show that they are special and deserve to be rewarded for their efforts. The children's smiles are from ear to ear when they receive their trophy, and they run to show their parents. I appreciate everything she does to help these children reach their potential and show them how smart they can actually be. 

Someone who has influenced the world: 

Walt Disney was born December 5, 1901, in Hermosa, Illinois. He was one out of five children. He mostly grew up in Missouri and this is where he started drawing and painting. He later went back to Illinois and took drawing and photography classes at Mckinley High School. He also was a cartoonist for the school's paper, and took night classes at Chicago Art Institute. At 16, he joined the Red Cross and went to France to help with the war and drove an ambulance for a year. In 1919, he moved to Kansas City, Missouri and started working at Kansas City Film Ad Company where he made commercials with animating cutouts. He later made a studio of his own called Laugh-O-Gram, but in 1923 it had to be shut down due to debt. After rounding up some money, Walt and his brother moved to Hollywood, California and started the Disney Brothers' Studio. After being betrayed by a distributor. they lost their first cartoons and animators. Walt, his brother, his wife, and a trusted cartoonist, created Mickey Mouse. They created short silent films with Mickey, and also put sound, music, and voices in the films. Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy and Pluto were made in 1929. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the first ever full-length film, and it produced $1.499 million dollars. After Snow White, Walt was mostly focused on making movies. On July 17, 1955 Disneyland was built in Anaheim, California. People come from around the world to see the Disney characters come to life. He began plans to open a theme park in Florida, but before he could see it finished, he died of lung cancer at 65 on December 15, 1966. His brother finished the plans, and Disney World was built and then finished in 1971. Mary Poppins was the last work Walt looked over before his death. He and his animators brought joy to the world with their cartoons. He overcame all the problems in his way and now his name will live on forever.