<p> 2017 J. Steven Walraven Scholarship Essay Maria Ponce Accounting Specialist | First Bank of Dalton</p><p>I would like to begin by introducing myself. My name is Marie Ponce and I was brought to the U.S. when I was six years old. I come from a family that has struggled financially but my father always worked hard for us. As I grew up and seeing how my father struggled to give my siblings and I what we needed, I promised myself that I was going to repay my father for everything he was doing by making him proud.</p><p>As soon as I turned 16, I began working two jobs and going to high school at the same time and although I loved sports, I knew that my father wasn’t going to be able to pay for me to play so I knew I had to help him out by paying for what he needed. Since then I have been working non-stop. When I started college, I started working full time at First Bank of Dalton and since then I work until 5 p.m. and go to school from there. Balancing a full-time job and being a full-time student has been a great challenge because both are very important for me and doing the best I can on both. I knew that if I wanted to go to college I was going to have to work harder and help my father pay for every semester. At one point I was working at First Bank full time and had a weekend job on top of being a full-time student. At this point you might be wondering why I’m writing about my life if this wasn’t the topic.</p><p>I have not done much community service with First Bank of Dalton because I haven’t had the opportunity to for doing all that I do to be able to go to college and pay for it. Community service is very important to me and although I haven’t had the opportunity to do much of it, I have promised myself that after I graduate I am going to focus on giving back to my community by doing community service. It is important as a community bank employee to be involved in the community because that shows the community how important they are to you. It is also a way to get to know the community you serve and understand them. You can’t be a community bank if you won’t be involved with your community and show them that your institution doesn’t only care about making loans and bringing in deposits but that they care for your community. When I see First Bank of Dalton participating for the community it makes me proud to be a part of such an awesome bank that goes way beyond to help our community. # # #</p>