I have six brothers and one sister, I'm the seventh child, the only house I've called home is where my parents still live today, 3743 Flora, Ave. Kansas City, Missouri. I attended the Old Faxon Elementary, 3710 Paseo, located on the next street over where we live, so I walked to school with my brothers, Mark and Jeffrey every day. My kindergarten teacher, Ms. Lucky was my first inspiratory of life, I met her after I grew-up  and she had gotten married so her last name became Mrs. White, but she'll always be Ms. Lucky to me, because I was lucky to have her as my kindergarten teacher.

Ms. Lucky planted the seed of hope inside me to believe in myself even if no one else does it's still my job to believe in myself.

When I was still crawling,  I crawled over to my next door neighbor's porch and when to sleep in her arms after that day it seemed her house became my second home because I was always over there working and eating her name was Mrs. Gibson, an elderly lady, she instilled the duties of respect, responsibility and hard work  ethics to earn the money that you are paid. During the summer I would cut her grass, clean out the basement, and go to the store for her, during the winter I would shovel her sidewalk and steps so I earned her trust. After I got my driver's license and my first car I would take her to the bank so she could get money to pay her bills. I'll never forget the day she passed, I went to the hospital, all her family was gathered around her but, she couldn't remember any of them, so when I arrived they asked her do know who this is and she said "that's my boy, Michael".

I was in a reading class, because I needed help with reading, Mrs. Cathers and Mrs. Bush were my reading teachers, I became a better reader and was able to earn a little money raking leaves after school for Mrs. Cathers, they instilled in me the lesson of self discipline, if something is important to you, you'll make time for it, so I started making time to read ever since.