Fund Imani's Debutante Journey

Hello, my name is Imani Smith and I'm an upcoming junior who has the opportunity to become a debutante. Historically, a debutante is a young woman from a high-class family who is making her formal debut into society to be an eligible woman to wed. At my school, T-Squared Honors Academy, there's an organization called the T-Squared Pearls of Excellence, which is the organization for the debutantes. In order to become a part of the Pearls of Excellence, a debutante must maintain her GPA from a 2.5 to 4.0, have the spirit of service and desire to help others, have the minimum of ten hours of community volunteer hours, and also fundraise up to 2,000 dollars. The funding is spent for the debutante ball that happens once all debutantes have committed to the hours of classes, and each requirement is met.

My reason for becoming a debutante was at first to please my mother, who wanted me to find something to keep me occupied when I transferred to my school when I was a freshman, but as the following year has now passed and I learned what a debutante is and have similar values, I became intrigued. I had to be given an interview to determine if I was eligible to become a debutante and certain questions stuck out to me, "What do you believe is debutante?" and "What would you like to learn?"

My response to the first question was a woman who stands strong behind her morals and beliefs, she holds herself in her own standard that differs from others, she thinks of others first and is a leader, just like my principal Dr. India Ford.

To the next question above, I answered on wanting to learn more self-control and more etiquette. The reasoning for the answer was because I know I can enhance my knowledge of etiquette with the help of my own mannerism, and this year as a sophomore, my self-control lacked and wasn't apart of who I carry myself as.

As my junior year is approaching, I seek motivation on improving my skills and character, having a journey on finding who I am. At this moment, some see me as only a girl who is a saxophone player, but there's so much more to who I am and who I aspire to become, as such becoming an author. My goal in my upcoming 2025-2026 school year as a Junior is to truly know who Imani Smith is, and becoming a debutante is just a large steppingstone. Thank you for reading and I hope you will support my fundraising.