Captain Clay Layne Memorial C.O.L.E Scholarship

The greatest lesson my mother taught me was to not be afraid but to be prepared. She saw the darkest parts of the human mind as a part of her career and felt the only way she could protect me from it was by educating me and sharing the truth. If I was going out with friends, I had to know what to do for a potential kidnapping. Going to the mall meant knowing what to do in an active shooter situation. I had to know not to panic and to think critically to escape the problem. She knew that by teaching me to identify threats, I could better avoid them. It has made me observant and resilient in the face of danger. My mother also instilled in me the virtue of service. I spend more time volunteering than working in a week. In the fall and Christmas seasons, I work with the FOP order she is a part of in their auction that raises money for their Shop With a Cop event. It’s offered to lower-income students and their families so they can get presents for Christmas. I also work with the local Knights of Columbus to raise money for churches and charities in the area by volunteering at their breakfasts once a month. There are also service projects I’ve carried out with clubs and my school to directly impact my community. In my junior year, I worked with students from other schools to gather toys, books, and games to donate to the domestic and homeless shelters nearby. We had over six hundred items in total before splitting them between the chosen locations. My school also holds community service events a couple of times a year where the students go out into the town to clean parks, offer help to senior citizens, and do other projects. Some of the greatest obstacles I’ve faced are time and my abilities. I had to learn time management the hard way after committing to too many things over the years and having to give some things up to not stress out as often over deadlines and events. The worst obstacles were the limitations I put on myself. I had to realize that I am fallible and have weaknesses like everyone else. If I couldn’t do something on my own or understand it, I had to ask for help. There’s nothing wrong with that either. Understanding my strengths and weaknesses has helped me identify other problems in my life and has allowed me to know when I needed the support of others to succeed. I overcame my self-implemented obstacles after many years of stress and failure which made me decide to change for the better.