I would say that I have a handful of favorite films but there is one in particular that truly changed my life. It was based on the book "The Shack" (the movie was also called "The Shack"). After reading the book I couldn't wait to see it come to life in the movie. This movie changed my whole perspective on Christianity and how I go about in my faith personally. Mack Phillips (the main character) spirals into a deep depression after the kidnapping and murdering of his 4-year-old daughter, which eventually causes him to question everything he has ever believed. While he was questioning his faith he gets this mysterious letter urging him to go to this abandoned shack in the middle of nowhere in Oregon. Ignoring his doubts, he goes to find this shack and comes across this mystifying trio of strangers that were led by a woman named Papa. The woman Papa turns out to be God and the other two strangers represent Jesus and the Holy Spirit. He spends the weekend at this shack while the "Holy Trinity Trio" guides Mack through his grieving of the brutal murder of his daughter. Seeing how the Trinity Trio walked Mack through his grieving and gave him the answers he needed to move on has helped me get through some hardships in my life. It taught me that God always has a reason for everything he does even if we don't understand at the time, but the amazing thing about God is that he would never put us in a situation that we weren't strong enough to overcome. That is the goodness of God and I am so thankful for this book/movie teaching me that.

My experience as a first-generation, first-born child was different than most. I was the firstborn of a 19-year-old mother and a 23-year-old father who were not married. As you would expect they did not end up staying together and they ended up "officially" splitting up when I was about 3 years old. A normal split household is hard enough on its own to grow up in, but the situations I was put in at a young age made it even harder. After my parents split up I didn't remember much until I was about 5 years old when my mom ended up getting pregnant and marrying another guy. Which he lived in Austin, Tx and we live in Dallas, Tx. My mom tried to take me away from my dad and move to Austin but he didn't let that happen. That ended up to be the least of our worries once my mom had my little (half), sister. Once she was born there was something wrong but we couldn't figure it out, nor the doctors. When she was about a month and a half the doctors ended up finding a brain tumor that took up over 75% of her brain, and my mom and her husband only had two choices. One, do the surgery that may or may not work and if it does work she would be a "vegetable" and she wouldn't be able to do anything for herself. Two, they just take her off life support and let nature take its course, and they ended up going with option two. After we lost my little sister everything went downhill; my mom became depressed, her husband left her, and I became second priority behind her. That was only the beginning of an awful next 7-8 years of my life. About 2 years after that devastating situation my family went through my mom met this new guy (which wasn't a surprising thing at this point), and he was awful. He was bipolar and verbally, emotionally, and physically abusive (never physical towards me thankfully) towards my mom and me. Due to my mom's selfishness and poor priorities, I was put in very inappropriate situations at a young age that was not okay. For example, at the ages 8 and 9, my mom would leave me home alone at night while she went out, and during the day when she would work when I wouldn't have school and I had to cook/fend for myself. Another one would be allowing me to see the fights she and her boyfriend would get into because they would get scary. There was yelling and things being thrown and broken etc., so as a little girl that was scary to experience. If I were to say the worst thing that I saw was seeing her boyfriend stand over his daughter and choke/hit her while my mom is fighting to try and get him off of her. After that happened he went to jail but guess who bailed him out..... you guessed it.... my mom! Due to the lack of structure and care for success in my household that is how I started to act in my everyday life. I wasn't doing well in school, in soccer, I was rude and disrespectful and didn't have God at the center of my life. Thankfully that all changed when my dad met my step-mom (now mom), and she completely changed our lives for the better. When she came into our lives she brought God with her which is exactly what we needed if we wanted to admit it or not. As the years went on she taught me how a mother is supposed to love their daughter, she taught me how to practice self-discipline, and most importantly she taught me how to let God in and trust him with my life. Once I started to learn those things my whole demeanor and outlook on my future started to change. I started to make goals for myself, but instead of just saying I wanted them I started to work for them. Another thing that I got better at but still struggle with was my scarring thoughts and memories that had to do with my mom. I had thoughts like "why does she love him more than me?", "Why doesn't she love me enough to leave him?" or "what did I do wrong for her to not love me as much as him?", so it was hard to understand that I didn't do anything wrong and that she is who she is and I can't change that. Once I started to understand all of this and believe that I deserve better I decided to move in with my dad and stepmom full time. It was the best decision I ever made, but I couldn't have made that decision without the support of my parents and the guidance of God. There is more to the story but the point is that I am so thankful to have gone through all of this hardship because it has made me such a better person. I am so excited to start the next chapter of my life to show my parents that everything they have been through and sacrificed for me will all be worth it. Also, I want to be a better person, woman, and most importantly a better mother than my mom ever was. What she put me through gives me fuel to achieve the goals I have set for myself, and for that, I couldn't be more grateful. I pray that you consider me for this scholarship so that I can help my parents pay for my college education since they have done so much for me already. I can't wait to start the next chapter of my life and live out God's plan for my future.

Starting my sophomore year of high school is when I took my first type of business class and I enjoyed them. I took principles of business management/finance and then I took a class where one semester was social media marketing and the second semester was social entertainment marketing. Then my junior year is when I took entrepreneurship, and throughout the year we made a real business plan for our business idea. After those classes, I realized that I wanted to do something in that realm for my career. Ever since I built my business plan in my entrepreneurship class I fell in love with the whole process of building something myself from the ground up. I have learned that if I want to build a business then I have to be 110% all in because it's not easy and it is going to be tuff, so I am going to have to persevere through anything that comes my way. Which is a good thing because that is what I was raised to do, no matter what happens in my life I was taught to look to God to get me through because he can get me through anything. Another thing I learned is that you have to be confident in your idea because if you don't have confidence in it then no one else is. Believing in your idea is huge because to start a business you will most likely need investors and if you don't show confidence in your product then neither will they and then they won't want to invest in someone who doesn't believe in themselves. One of the things that motivate me is doing everything I can to be better in every aspect of my life compared to my birth mom. I don't have a relationship with her anymore because she exposed me to things at a young age that I shouldn't have been and it was just a toxic environment. At the age of 13 is when I fully moved in with my dad and stepmom. I don't want to be anything like her so that motivates me to better myself as I grow up to become a woman. Another thing that motivates me to succeed is my amazing parents. They have done everything for me and sacrificed a lot for me to follow my dreams, so I want to do everything I can to make them proud of me and my successes. My parents are hard on me and I am very thankful for that because it shows me how much they love me by putting in the amount of effort they put into trying to make me the best version of myself. I can't wait to start the next chapter of my life so that I can show them that everything they have done for me is all worth it. I will be the first true blood "Fite" to go and graduate from college which is so exciting. I have a lot of different entrepreneurial ideas for my future, and I can't wait to go to college and expand my knowledge and learn as much as I can. This scholarship will help me help my parents pay for my college tuition because the school I am committed to for soccer is a private school and out of state so it is expensive. I want to help them as much as I can, so I pray that you consider me for this scholarship.

Growing up in a split household from the age of 3 was not easy, especially when one side was very toxic and very emotionally draining. My mom was 19 and my dad was 23 when they had me so they were just babies themself and they weren't married. When I was around 3 years old is when they officially split up. The situation I was in forced me to grow up a lot faster than I should have had to, but it has taught me so many things about how I want to live my life and what I want for my future. Going back and forth between houses was not fun because I always wanted to stay with my dad but I didn't have a choice and I had to go to my mom's even when I didn't want to. Once my mom got pregnant and remarried it had gotten a little better until my sister passed away due to a brain tumor and then after that my mom fell off the deep end. Her husband left her after my sister passed and she just couldn't get over it and she didn't pay much attention to me it was always about her. A few years later she met a new guy who was emotionally, verbally, and physically abusive towards her and me (but never physical towards me also was a drug dealer). My mom never provided me with the structure or rules I needed while growing up which was not good for a kid like me. One of the major things was that I was not doing well in school because my mom didn't care how I did as long as I wasn't failing my classes, so her mindset started to become my mindset. Along with all of that, she would leave me home alone at the age of 8 by myself while she would go out at night and then come home drunk or would drive with me in the car while she was intoxicated or even worse when her boyfriend was being physically abusive towards her I saw it all. Being that young it was very scaring and something I should not have had to witness, and this kind of stuff went on for the next 6-7 years. Before my dad and stepmom stepped in I would have kept going down a dark and scary path. My dad met my stepmom when I was 7 and then got married when I was 10, and she was the best thing that has ever happened to us. When she came into our lives she brought God with her and we needed that. She gave me everything my mom wasn't giving me; love, attention, someone to look up to, etc. She chose to love me even when she didn't have to and that spoke so much volume because my mom wasn't even doing that. She also taught me how a mother should truly love, and how to not be selfish, and how to let God in and let him love me. Once I let God into my life everything started changing for the better. He started to open my eyes about my mom and how she was treating me was not right, because beforehand I was always sticking up for her and I didn't want to leave her. But once I realized what I deserved I decided to move in with my dad and stepmom because I felt that would be best for me and my future. Once I made that decision so many things started to change which reassured me that I made the right decision. My grades went up, I started doing better in soccer, and my anxiety/depression got a lot better. Going through all of those things that I thought was normal started to catch up to me once I realized how wrong it all was. I wondered why I wasn't important enough for her to get better, or why she loved him more than me, or why she would rather go out than stay home and hang out with me. I had thought that I did something wrong, but my dad and stepmom showed me that wasn't true and she was making that selfish choice not to change. But ever since I let God in he walked me through every step of getting through this really hard time. He made it easier to get through even though it was insanely difficult. Through all of that, I learned that God is always there even when I don't think that he is and that living my life for him is the way to go. He taught me what unconditional love was and what I deserved, and to not focus on the people that don't want to fight for me but the people that would do anything for me. I am so blessed that he gave me my stepmom when I needed her the most and using that whole awful scarring experience to teach me how I want to live my life. In the past 5 years, I have developed a new mindset and goals that I want to achieve. God put these certain aspirations of soccer, being successful, and being a mother someday on my heart because they are what he created me to do. In the future, I am going to be a better mother, friend, and person than she ever was. I am going to go and get my degree and be as successful as I can, and I am going to work as hard as I can to go as far in soccer as I can. I will use my childhood as motivation to be better than those people who treated me the way they did. I can't wait to make all the people that fought for me proud and show them that it was all worth it. I now know God always has a plan!

In college I am going to major in Business Administration and once I finish my bachelor's I am going to go on and get my MBA. When I first committed to North Greenville University (where I am going to play soccer) I was so worried about picking what I wanted to major in, because it felt like a lot of pressure picking something I was going to do for the rest of my life. When I was in the process of deciding I was going back and forth between education, psychology, and business. When I figured out that going into education was not for me I was thinking seriously thinking about psychology because I found that very interesting, but to do what I wanted to do in psychology I would have to go and get my doctorate and I am not doing that! After all that going back and forth, I finally decided to go with business administration. Throughout high school, I took a handful of different types of business classes and I enjoyed them. I took principles of business, management, and finance, then social media marketing, social entertainment marketing, and entrepreneurship. Going through all of those classes and seeing how the business world works and being able to do different projects like making business plans was a lot of fun. When I was deciding and was thinking back to what I thought I would enjoy the most I thought that my business classes were the only ones that I enjoyed. I am not 100% sure what I want to exactly do in business but I do have some ideas. I like the idea of working for a big corporation and maybe doing marketing management or something in that lane, or I love the thought of opening and running my own business that has something to do with health/fitness, sports, children, or Christianity. That is what I am hoping college helps me decide after I go through all the different classes and learn more about the field. I am just very fortunate that I get to further my education and be able to learn about what I want to learn about because I know some people don't have that privilege. For that reason, I want to take advantage of my opportunity of being able to broaden my knowledge of something that I want to succeed in the real world. I pray that you consider me for this scholarship because it would help my family out so much. They have sacrificed so much so that I could play soccer and follow my dreams of playing in college, so I want to help them out as much as I can.

I think that there are two different types of legacies. The first one is the legacy where you are known by everyone and has made some type of impact on thousands and thousands of people (ex. Kobe Bryant, Mia Hamm, Michael Jackson, etc.). Then there is a legacy where you impacted the lives of people in your life (family, friends, or even people in your community). Both legacies are just as important believe it or not. Sometimes people think that for their lives to be important or relevant they have to be famous or have a lot of money to make a difference, but that couldn't be farthest from the truth. Your legacy is about how you live your life and making it to where when you're gone people want to be more like you and follow the path that you did in your life. When you are gone people are going to remember you by the morals and values you lived by. For example, my great-grandpa just passed away a few months back and everyone kept telling me stories of how he was known for always making sure that he spread the love of Jesus wherever he went. No matter where he was or who he was talking to he made sure to let them know that Jesus loved them even if they didn't believe it when he told them. He wasn't famous or rich or had a big name but he still made huge impacts on people's lives, and to me, he left a legacy for his loved ones to do the same thing that he did. The other legacy would be the huge celebrity that is rich and is known by millions of people that look up to them and want to be just like them. For example, Kobe Bryant was a basketball legend and was and still is a role model for so many athletes all over the world. He used his platform to give back to others and to the young kids that looked up to him. There were so many people he made an impact on from just playing basketball. He was known for obviously being one of the best to ever play in the NBA but also playing tough defense, his insane vertical, and hitting last-minute game-winners. He was lucky to be able to change the world by just playing the sport he loved. It was a tragedy when he died last year but at least he left himself an amazing legacy that will forever live in the NBA and sporting world. I want to be able to leave this earth saying that I lived my life for Jesus and that I worked the hardest I could have worked to achieve my dreams. I hope that I am remembered for my heart and compassion for other people and always making sure that everyone felt loved no matter who they are.

I have always been a very active kid from playing soccer, volleyball, basketball, gymnastics, and track. My main sport has always been soccer, and I have played ever since I was 3 years old. I always loved it but once I got older I started to realize how important working out outside of soccer was. Going into my freshman year is when I started to take it more seriously. I did a speed/agility and lifting summer camp with my school freshman and sophomore year and that is where I learned how to properly lift. But I have always had trouble staying consistent with my fitness because I would feel motivated for a bit and then I would get super lazy, so it has been something I had to work out. For the past year, I have been working out consistently and I have fallen in love with the whole health and fitness process. My weekly schedule is pretty busying going from high school soccer practices and games to my workouts then to club soccer practices and games. When I am in high school season I have morning practice for an hour and a half and then I go to lift on my own and then two nights a week I have club practice at night. Also, I have high school games on Tuesdays and Fridays from December through March. All that said I am very busy and very active going from one thing to the next, but I love it. I haven't always just struggled with consistency in working out but with eating habits as well. Over the past couple of years, my self-control has gotten a lot better and I enjoy eating healthier foods. It makes me feel better and I perform better in soccer as well. I have enjoyed the whole learning process of the right foods and different recipes to eat. I also love cooking so it's been fun making new things for me and my family. Since I am going to college for soccer I want to go into my freshman year the best shape I can, so I have been training extra hard in lifting and soccer training. I have been lifting 6 days a week and doing my high school, club, and extra training sessions and I have been seeing a big difference in my body and my playing. I can't wait to get to the collegiate level and work harder than I have ever worked before, and so that I can achieve my soccer and fitness goals.

I wouldn't necessarily say that I grew up in a Christian household. My parents were only 19 and 23 when they had me and then they split up when I was about 3 years old, so I had always been going back and forth between houses. The only Christian values I had instilled were from my grandparents because my dad and I lived with them but we were never really that into it. When I was 5 my mom got pregnant and remarried and had my little sister Trinady, but sadly she ended up passing away due to a brain tumor about a month and a half after she was born. This completely crushed my mom as you can imagine and then it also ended up ruining her marriage. After all of this happened my mom just went downhill. A couple of years after that she met this guy that was going to be around for the next 7 years, and little did I know he was going to ruin everything. The guy she had started dating was verbally, emotionally, and physically abusive towards my mom and sometimes even me (never physically towards me thankfully), but I had witnessed a lot of stuff at a young age that still scars me to this day. I was never her priority she always chose something else over me, either it was a guy, alcohol, going out, or even a new purse, etc. As a young girl I didn't realize what all was going on and how wrong all of it was, and not having Jesus in my heart didn't help either. Then God blessed me with someone who chose to love me when she didn't have to and do everything for me. My dad met my now stepmom (but I call her mom) when I was 7 years old and then they got married when I was 10. When she came into our lives she immediately brought Jesus with her. At first, I was totally against going to church because I thought it was boring and no fun. As I got older and I started realizing that all the things my mom was putting me through from leaving me home alone at age 8 to fend for myself, to seeing my mom's boyfriend hit his daughter. This whole time God was there trying to show me over and over how good he was, and that he just wanted to love me the way I am supposed to be loved. When I turned 12 is when I started to take my faith more seriously and started going to youth regularly, and going on retreats and summer camps. Then when I was 13 is when I surrendered my life to Jesus and got baptized. After I got baptized I kept trying to help my mom as much as I could but she wasn't changing or doing anything different. She just kept showing where her priorities lied and I realized that I didn't deserve any of it. I finally decided to stop seeing my mom and started to truly turn my life around by doing better in school and taking my soccer more seriously and my faith as well. Once I did that and allowed Jesus to take over it felt awesome, and when I took all that negativity and drama out it was so peaceful. And most of all it felt amazing being truly pursued and loved by my parents. My dad as well never gave up on me, he always made sure to show me how much he loved me and how he was always going to be there and I'm so thankful. If it wasn't for God putting my stepmom in my life I don't even want to know where I would be. I'm not saying that since then I have had a perfect life and that my relationship with God doesn't have its issues, because I still battle stuff that has to do with my real mom. But now that I have Jesus in my heart it makes it so much easier to deal with because he reminds me how much I am loved by so many other people that chose to put me first. God has never given up on me and for that, I am so undeserving but so thankful. I will forever live my life for Jesus.

The greatest inspiration in my life is my stepmom (which I call mom) because she chose to love me even though I wasn't "hers". My relationship with my biological mom was very toxic and was affecting me in a lot of ways, but when my stepmom stepped in it changed everything. She showed me how a mother should love their child and she showed me God loves me. Before her, I wasn't big in my faith at all. I hated going to church. I thought it was boring and pushed God away because I thought it was too much work to be a Christian. At first, I wasn't very fond of it but as time went on God changed my heart and I felt what it was like to allow him to love me and it was life-changing. Ever since she walked into the picture I have wanted to be just like her because she's beautiful, successful, has confidence in herself and her faith, has the biggest heart, and probably the most selfless person I have ever met. She became my best friend and still is to this day, but it wasn't easy. All of the drama made it hard at first but once I got a little older and realized how much she loved me and all of the things she was sacrificing for me all of the other stuff going on didn't matter because I knew that I had someone that would always be there for me no matter what. She pushes me in my faith, soccer, and just in life in general. She has taught me how to be respectful, be a friend, take pride in my grades, show the love of God through my everyday life, and most importantly how to take pride in my faith. I'm not saying that she's perfect because she has gone through her battles but the way she carries herself through conflict is just so admirable. I am just so thankful that she loves me just as Jesus does; forgiving, gracious, and most importantly everlasting love. I work every single day to make her proud so that she sees that I understand how much she has sacrificed for me. I wish there was a way to show her how grateful I am for her but there is nothing comparable to what she has done for me. I will continue to push myself every single day because I think that is a way to show her how much I love and look up to her. I pray that you consider me for this scholarship so that I can help her as much as I can to put me through college. The goal is to show her that she made the right decision to choose to love me even when she didn't have to and that is why she is my inspiration.

Growing up with split up parents was not easy, especially when one of them doesn't put you as a priority in their life. I never wanted to leave my dad's house because he paid attention to me and showed me love that I wasn't receiving from my mom. Then my mom had my little sister and she ended up passing away from a brain tumor when she was only a month and a half, and then after that, it all went downhill. After that happened my mom didn't bounce back she kept trying to find other things to distract her from her pain, which were mostly men, alcohol, shopping, etc. Due to all of this going on she didn't teach me to take school seriously or give me any structure in life for that matter, so I never really liked school or took it very seriously. Then when I was 7 years old my dad met my stepmom and she brought so much light into our lives. A few years later when I was 10 years old they got married and I couldn't have been happier, because she was truly changing my dad's and I's lives for the better. Once I got to middle school my dad and stepmom tried to give me structure and became hard on me in school, and I hated it. My mom was still worried about herself like always and wasn't focusing on me. A lot of really scary things happened that my mom should have never let happen to me or around me to the point where my dad and stepmom went to court for me. When I was 12 years old I decided to move in with my dad and stepmom permanently because things with my mom just got too toxic to the point where my grades were horrible and I was developing depression and anxiety. I am so glad I made that decision because to this day it was the best decision that I have ever made. Once I did that my grades went up, my soccer improved, and my mental health skyrocketed. Even though at the time I hated how hard my dad and stepmom were on my about my grades and how many endless nights sitting at the kitchen table crying over math homework, I am so thankful for them caring enough to do all of that. Without God gifting me with my stepmom I don't even want to know where I would be today. My freshman year of high school was the first time I had made straight A's for the whole year. It was a huge accomplishment for me because I had never thought that I was capable of doing that. Once that happened I just got into a groove and kept killing it in school because my dream was to get a soccer scholarship and I knew that I needed to have the grades as well. Fast-forwarding to the second semester of my senior year I have only made 2 B's my entire high school career and I have a 4.5/6.0 GPA and I am top 16% in my class. I am so proud of myself and so thankful for my parents pushing me and believing that I could do it. My whole high school experience has been just school and soccer 24/7, but I wouldn't want it any other way. I know that God has a plan for my life and I know that he put me through the things that I went through for a reason and for that I am forever thankful. My wildest dream would be after college and getting my master's degree is get the chance to go overseas and play soccer professionally. Soccer has been my heart and passion for so long that I don't know what I would do without it. I also have dreamed of traveling the world and playing professional soccer overseas would give me that opportunity. I will keep working as hard as I can to make it come true and pray to God that I can do so. Hopefully, when I achieve this dream I can show God's grace through it all. I want everyone to see Him through me and experience his love like I have been blessed too because it is the most amazing feeling. I pray every day that God allows me to do that!

Growing up I had a toxic relationship with my biological mom, and then after the passing of my little sister due to a brain tumor, it all went downhill. I didn't have God in my life and going back and forth between my dad's house (which was great) and then my mom's (which was awful), I didn't have any structure in my life until my stepmom came into the picture. She came into my life when I was 7 years old and she showed me more love in the first year she was around than my mother did ever since I was born. It took me a good while to finally leave my mom after a lot of toxic scary things happened. When I was 12 years old I decided I wanted to live with my dad and stepmom, and it was the best decision I have ever made. She brought God into my and my dad's lives when we needed it the most and it was truly life-changing. Once they gave me the structure I needed my grades went up, I excelled in soccer (which is my heart and passion), and my overall demeanor was light years different. I was happy and was getting the love I deserved from my parents, and I was finally allowing God to love me instead of pushing it away and it felt truly amazing. Ever since then I made the decision that I wanted to go as far as I could in soccer because my heart truly grew for it when I started making it a priority in my life. My goal was to get a college soccer scholarship (which I did) and to play at the next level, and then after college, I dream of going overseas and playing professional soccer over there. I have worked so hard to get where I am in soccer today and that is all thanks to my parents. They have sacrificed so much for me to be able to play soccer and have revolved their whole life around me and my soccer, and I couldn't be more thankful. It truly excites me to think about what God has planned for my future. I just can't wait to work my butt off and do everything I can to achieve the goals I have set for myself. Then just give all the glory to God because without Him I would not be the person I am today. What excites me most about this world is the potential it has to become what God intended it to be. Yes, this world can be very ugly but it can also be so so beautiful, and that is only possible by the grace of God. It excites me that I get to walk on this earth as a child of God and do my best to represent him and his love to everyone around me. That doesn't make me perfect because I go through my battles too, but I do know that no matter what I do or no matter how far I run from Him he will always be there with open arms to love me. That is probably the most exciting thing to think about in my opinion. I want to share that excitement with other people and show them how amazing our God is. That is what I want to give to any person I come in contact with, and I'm not saying I'm a master at it I'm still working on it. The ultimate goal is to be just walking or talking to someone and someone that doesn't know me can look at me and say "she has the spirit of God in her"! That is what excites me about life, is that I have the ability and the privilege to grow with God every single day.

I feel like when you are on a team you have to build a foundation of friendship, trust, and passion for the same game. In my experience, I have been the captain of my club soccer team for the past 3 years and from the beginning to now I have made some changes. When I first became captain I had a sense of entitlement that didn't help when I was trying to lead my team during our games because I came off aggressive and not very nice. Once I realized what I was doing wasn't the right way I changed how I gave constructive criticism to my teammates. With girls, I feel like it's a little harder because us girls can be a little too sensitive sometimes and takes things more personally than guys would. Also, I feel that sometimes captains have a reputation of acting as if they are the best one on the team and that if they mess up it's not a big deal compared to another teammate that would get yelled at for the same thing. Now I have the best relationship with my team than I ever have. We have all been on the same team for the past 5 years and some of us have known each other longer. So since we have such an amazing team dynamic it helps when we are playing and when I am telling people what to do they don't take it the wrong way. I will say I have gotten in arguments with my teammates because in high tense game situations things we had said came off the wrong way, but since we are all so close we talked it out and it was fine. But in those situations, you have to talk them out because if you just hold them in then you start to hold it against them on the field and that starts the effect the team. That is how it is on my high school team, it is always full of drama and holding stuff against each other. It has been a toxic environment, but I just try and worry about playing soccer and doing the best that I can, and trying to be positive with all of the negative around me. Being a student-athlete has taught me time management, hard work, and being able to run off of now sleep! I love the dynamic of being a student-athlete and I can't wait to apply all that I have learned about being a teammate and a leader to the college level. This scholarship will help me get there, and also help my parents put me through college. They have sacrificed so much for me and my soccer career that I want to do whatever I can to help them pay for it. Especially because my school that I am committed to is a private school and I am out of state so it is pretty pricey. I pray that you consider me so that you can help me follow of dreams of playing at the college level.

I am working on improving my game in soccer and getting as physically fit as I can so that next year when I start my first year of college ball I am in the best shape I can be. I want to go in and make an impact my freshman year and not just be like a "normal freshman" and just accept that I won't get much playing time just because I am a freshman. To me, that isn't an excuse to not earn my spot and to work as hard as I can to get there. I have been taught to always work harder than the person next to me, and let that fuel my ambition to get better. This grant would help me and my family pay for me to attend the school I am committed to and be able to achieve my goal of playing college soccer. Especially since my school that I am committed to is a private school it is a little more expensive and even more since I am out of state. My parents have sacrificed so much for me and my soccer career, so I just want to help them as much as I can. This grant would be extremely helpful so I pray that you really consider me and know that this will help my dreams come true.

I have a 3 almost 4-year-old Pitbull and his name is Dirk. He is named after Dirk Nowitzki from the Dallas Mavericks! Then our golden retriever is named Sunny, and we got her over quarantine. Also, I don't have an Instagram at the moment but I thought I would still share the pics of my pups!

A few years ago I was on my way to my soccer game and I was watching motivational soccer videos to get my head right. And to this day I still know the whole speech by memory, but the specific quote that stuck out to me has truly changed my mindset on my passion for soccer. The quote was "If you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you will be successful. - Eric Thomas" After hearing this it kind of knocked the wind out of me because it is so true! A lot of people are all talk these days, they say that they want an A on the test but aren't willing to study. Or they want to make varsity but they are "too tired" to go outside and put in some extra work. It made me reflect on how bad did I want to succeed, like how bad did I want to play college ball? It made me second guess a lot but then I concluded that I truly did want to succeed as bad as I want to breathe. I can honestly say that this quote is a big part of where I am today as an athlete. Also, a part of why I got a scholarship to play in college and get to fulfill a dream that I have had for so long. I now have the mindset of striving for my goals and not giving up because I want it that bad that I can make it happen. I just don't want to ever regret not putting in the work I should have. I don't want to look back and think "I could have put in that extra hour instead of watching that movie" or "I should have trained that night instead of hanging with friends." Also, my parents have sacrificed so much for my and my soccer career so I want to prove to them that it was all worth it. This scholarship will help me get to the school I am committed to for soccer and officially be able to say that I did it and achieved that dream. I also want to help my parents as much as I can, because like I said before they have already done so much.

I wouldn't necessarily say that I grew up in a Christian household. My parents were only 19 and 23 when they had me and then they split up when I was about 3 years old, so I had always been going back and forth between houses. The only Christian values I had instilled were from my grandparents because my dad and I lived with them but we were never really that into it. When I was 5 my mom got pregnant and remarried and had my little sister Trinady, but sadly she ended up passing away due to a brain tumor about a month and a half after she was born. This completely crushed my mom as you can imagine and then it also ended up ruining her marriage. After all of this happened my mom just went downhill. A couple of years after that she met this guy that was going to be around for the next 7 years, and little did I know he was going to ruin everything. The guy she had started dating was verbally, emotionally, and physically abusive towards my mom and sometimes even me (never physically towards me thankfully), but I had witnessed a lot of stuff at a young age that still scars me to this day. I was never her priority she always chose something else over me, either it was a guy, alcohol, going out, or even a new purse, etc. As a young girl I didn't realize what all was going on and how wrong all of it was, and not having Jesus in my heart didn't help either. Then God blessed me with someone who chose to love me when she didn't have to and do everything for me. My dad met my now stepmom (but I call her mom) when I was 7 years old and then they got married when I was 10. When she came into our lives she immediately brought Jesus with her. At first, I was totally against going to church because I thought it was boring and no fun. As I got older and I started realizing that all the things my mom was putting me through from leaving me home alone at age 8 to fend for myself, to seeing my mom's boyfriend hit his daughter. This whole time God was there trying to show me over and over how good he was, and that he just wanted to love me the way I am supposed to be loved. When I turned 12 is when I started to take my faith more seriously and started going to youth regularly, and going on retreats and summer camps. Then when I was 13 is when I surrendered my life to Jesus and got baptized. After I got baptized I kept trying to help my mom as much as I could but she wasn't changing or doing anything different. She just kept showing where her priorities lied and I realized that I didn't deserve any of it. I finally decided to stop seeing my mom and started to truly turn my life around by doing better in school and taking my soccer more seriously and my faith as well. Once I did that and allowed Jesus to take over it felt awesome, and when I took all that negativity and drama out it was so peaceful. And most of all it felt amazing being truly pursued and loved by my parents. My dad as well never gave up on me, he always made sure to show me how much he loved me and how he was always going to be there and I'm so thankful. If it wasn't for God putting my stepmom in my life I don't even want to know where I would be. I'm not saying that since then I have had a perfect life and that my relationship with God doesn't have its issues, because I still battle stuff that has to do with my real mom. But now that I have Jesus in my heart it makes it so much easier to deal with because he reminds me how much I am loved by so many other people that chose to put me first. God has never given up on me and for that, I am so undeserving but so thankful. I will forever live my life for Jesus.