Throughout my life, I have had a wonderful opportunity to participate in sports. Throughout my life, I have been in volleyball, soccer, softball, and most importantly basketball. Softball and basketball have always held a special place in my heart but basketball is my all-time favorite. For the past 2 years, I have been able to participate in the Nike circuit playing for All Iowa Attack. With that, I am now committed to playing basketball in college. No matter how busy sports have kept me I have always found time for school, friends, and family. Throughout high school I maintained a 4.0, taking many advanced classes along with AP Statistics. But enough school talk. I come from a small rural town in Iowa. So in most cases, the most important sports program is football. But these last four years have shifted. Although it was nice for the boys' program during this year's basketball season, the girls always had a crowd and everyone cleared out by he time the boys began to play. I think that it was cool to be a part of an atmosphere that appreciated women's sports. So with that comes a little bit of pressure. I am not trying to be stuck up but I was the best player on the team. Everything ran through me. I played the entire game, it was my job to be the leader. Without that pressure, I would not be as strong, confident, and have the leadership qualities that I have today. I feel that women's sports have always been looked down on. I am so thankful for the women's teams right now. They have provided my generation with role models to look up to. Some of my favorite teams are Oklahoma and Nebraska softball and Iowa and UCONN women's basketball. I think without these teams that women's sports would not be getting the recognition that they are today. I mean how cool is it that a pro softball league was created and they are already getting this much recognition? These women have shown me who I can be and helped me set goals on who I want to become in my future. I cannot wait until I get my coaching authorization so I can try and coach the next generation of female athletes. I want to try and be a role model to them like all these female athletes are to me. I wanted to thank you for taking the time to read my application for this wonderful scholarship, Adriana Howard

I remember when I was sevens years old my brother and I got to go to our grandparents house in the summer. Our mom would drop us off at 7:00 and pick us up at 4:00. As soon as we arrived I would run inside and practically drag my grandpa out into the ranger so we could go check and mineral the cows, I also got a coke and a candy bar out of the deal. That was our thing, now the tables have turn. I still go over in the morning and drag him into the ranger with me but I am the one driving, yes I still have to open the gates and yes a still get my coke and a candy bar. Living on the family farm has created so many memories for me and my family and I never want to loose that. My plans after high school is to attend a four year college and major in agricultural education and minor in agricultural business. My teacher my freshmen year was so great that I realized right then and there that I wanted to have the same impact on the future generation. She created such a fun Ag day at the school. It taught the elementary children about all sorts of animals. There would be cows, pigs, sheep, goats, chickens, geese, rabbits, and so much more. Each station would teach the children information about the animals and how to properly care for them. She is the reason why a gained my passion for teaching. Additionally, living on the farm we don’t get paid for doing chores. After so long we are given a cow and she becomes our responsibility to take care of her. Then when it is time to sell her calf at the market we get the paycheck. Having my own cows has taught me the value of hard work and honesty. It might be below zero outside but the waters still need to be broken because animals are just as important as humans. My last story I am going to talk about is a bottle calf I had one year named Harry. He was a twin born in one of the bad blizzards in Iowa. He was the first one born so of course his mom cleaned him off like normal but then went and had the second one and forgot about him. When we found him he was cold and had to be brought in the garage to be put by the fire to warm up. Fast forward a couple days he still refused to eat, it was getting to where everyone was giving up on him. But I just couldn’t give up on him just yet. I worked with him everyday whether it was holding him up trying to teach him to stand or feeding him every hour just trying to make sure he eats. After a couple of weeks Harry was then strong enough to run around outside and play. After a while another cow lost her calf and Harry then became a transplant calf and was put on an actual mom. When November came it was time to sell the calves and Harry ended up being the biggest steer in the lot. I would like to thank you for taking the time to read this and for your consideration for the scholarship.