My name is Aloah Cox, and I plan on creating a legacy in which women feel inspired to defy the impossible and dream big. Okay, I know it sounds cliché, but all my life, I have been the type of girl who, when given limits, purposefully tries to achieve the impossible. My biggest dream has been to play collegiate golf, and as of November 2025, I have achieved that goal. I have signed to play golf on the D2 level at Belmont Abbey. I aspire to become a golf director and a golf course superintendent. Every day, the game of golf is shared with girls across the globe, and my dream is to prove to girls that you can be successful doing what you love, even when it's unconventional. Let's go back a little farther in my past. I was born to a single mom in Las Vegas, Nevada, and moved to a small town called Canton, North Carolina, 9 years later. I've always been interested in agriculture, but growing up in Las Vegas made it really hard to fit in, considering I wasn't from the country like everyone else was. However, my love for animals, turf science, and nature allowed me to persevere and defy the odds. In my junior year of high school, I was elected the president of my FFA (Future Farmers of America) chapter. Not only did this put me in a leadership position, but it also allowed me to grow as an individual. Without FFA, I wouldn't have learned how much I loved turf science and the business side of golf. I've been working on an SAE (Supervised Agricultural Experience) project with over 110 hours of work from my local golf course. Something interesting to note is that there are actually a fair number of female golf directors and superintendents; it's important to keep the awareness of these jobs on the horizon. If I were to win this scholarship, I would use it to help pay for my tuition so that after college, I can go on to work as a golf director and continue to share my love for golf and agriculture with girls in my community. I would also love to teach the girls in my community about being a golf director or superintendent, as my mentor has done for me. It has taught me so much about life, and it has given me the opportunity to work in the field that I want to work in in the future. With help from this scholarship, I believe that I will leave a legacy in which girls can aspire to do great things! I believe that I can be a shining light in my community, inspiring others to follow their dreams and strive to do what society deems impossible. Because girls can make the impossible possible.

I enjoy playing golf because it reminds me that I am truly empowered when I play golf. When I was in 7th grade, I was offered to join my middle school golf team. It was an all-boys team, and I figured, "Why not?" However, I immediately could feel how golf was a male-dominated sport. It was hard to build relationships with the boys on the team because they didn't respect me...Yet. Over the years, I have spent countless hours chipping, putting, hitting the drives, and hitting the approach shots just so I could feel respected. When I got to high school, I started a varsity women's golf team. We got multiple girls to join, and while we placed last at almost every match my freshman year, it was worth it to me to help girls who wouldn't otherwise have had the chance to play golf. By my sophomore year, our golf team was down to me and two other girls. I learned along the way that these girls would be my best friends; we supported each other after every match and every practice, reassuring each other that this hard work would eventually pay off. My junior year was when things took a turn. The more my team believed in each other, the better we got. I won my first match in my junior year with a 39 on 9 holes, and I felt like I had finally given others a reason to respect me. However, what I really learned from winning is that I don't have to earn anyone else's respect except for mine. As I'm writing this essay, my main goal in life is to share with girls that you should never put limits on yourself. Strive to defy what others say is impossible, and remember to enjoy your swing, enjoy your game, and enjoy the empowerment that golf gives us. I love to play golf because it has taught me how to be empowered. Being a girl in golf means branching out of your comfort zone, meeting new people, and networking, and rather than letting pressure break you, let pressure make you a diamond. Handling the pressure society puts on us women and letting it make us better, rather than giving in, is one of the most important things golf has taught me. In the future, I want to be a golf course superintendent or a golf director. By reaching this goal, I hope to continue to introduce golf to girls in my community, as well as continue to travel to meet other strong women in the golf industry. Not only will I be a first-generation college student, but I will also be the first woman in my family pursuing both an Ag and golf-centered career. As a soon-to-be collegiate athlete and student, my message to others is to strive to be a diamond, letting pressure make you better and shaping you into an amazing, one-of-a-kind individual.

The biggest lesson I've learned is that my life is like a round of golf. Golf isn't just a game; it's a mirror reflecting not only our skills but our egos. I stood on the lush green of Lake Junaluska Golf Course, gripping my putter so tightly, and standing so blissfully unaware of the humbling journey ahead. I've always prided myself on being a well-rounded individual, a straight A student, and a star player. My first attempts at playing golf in the 7th grade were hilariously disastrous, my coach at the time said, and I quote, "I've actually never seen someone hit a ball backwards." I began to practice really hard, finding a new challenge to conquer and perfect. In 8th grade, my golf coach passed away. He had an aneurysm and was pronounced brain-dead within the same week. His sudden death was a blow most of us didn't know how to overcome. Golf became my outlet to pay respect to him. I began taking golf very seriously and seeing some improvement, and when I broke 50 on 9 holes for the first time, I felt like I was on top of the world. I pushed for my high school to have a golf team and to introduce golf to girls, much like my golf coach had done for me. In my freshman year, our team was in last place almost every match. I began working harder and longer, investing all my time and energy into every practice session. In my sophomore year, every girl but 2 others dropped the team. These girls became some of my closest friends because even when matches were rough, and rounds were hard, and swings weren't clicking, at the end of the day, they were always there. By my junior year, I had made it to 2 regionals, was an all-conference player 2 years in a row, and was the team's #1 player 2 years consecutively. The pressure was building, and my thirst for victory and perfection was imminent. I broke 40 for the first time with a 39, happy, but still not good enough. Now, when I went to practice, if I didn't shoot under 45 or better, I would cry or get mad and would just go home thinking something was wrong with me. This year, I have been able to take the time to reflect on this topic and really dig deep into my expectations. Golf to me was no longer an outlet to respect my coach or a place to have fun. My longing for perfection drove me to fall right back into the mental pressure that I was escaping from before. Golf, at its face value, is just the act of hitting a tiny ball into a hole in as least strokes as possible; however, golf became a way to confront my imperfections. Going into my senior season, I have been forced to confront the bitter truth: I am not perfect, and that's okay. With each round, I have learned to embrace my flaws; the scuffs and scratches on my clubs tell a story of persistence, just like the scars we accumulate in life, but just like golf, life is unpredictable and messy, filled with swings and misses that can lead us to beautiful outcomes. In the end, golf has taught me that life is not about striving for perfection but finding joy in the journey. With each swing, I embrace the imperfections that shape who I am, and that's what truly matters.