I am so excited that it is finally time for me to go to college! Since I first found out about college in kindergarten I have been ready to go. I cried when my mom told me I had to finish kindergarten and other years in school before I could go to college. It was pretty easy to convince me to put half of my birthday and Christmas money into my college savings account. If I am being completely honest, I don't know what I want to be yet. This was really stressful because all of my friends have their futures planned out and adults ask me what I want to be a lot. I talked to my parents and they said it was okay and that they changed their college majors a couple of times as they learned more about employment opportunities available. We sat down and talked about the classes I liked in high school. Science classes, psychology, and sociology made the top of the list. AP Statistics was also high on the list because I had the very best teacher. He spent most of his lunch breaks with me to reteach and review the material we were learning in class. There were times when I felt I was not good enough and was ready to quit. My self confidence was up and down and sometimes it was pretty low. I leaned into my family, friends, and teachers and they helped me to refocus, reframe, and to dig in to work harder. The classes offered at my high school combined with passionate and caring teachers helped me to love school and deepen my dreams of going to college. Helping people brings me joy and as a current lifeguard, I am able to help people in many ways. I was able to earn my lifeguard certification as a class in school. Soon after I passed my certification test I was walking into a bathroom at school and a girl fell down and started having a seizure. Everyone started freaking out and did not know what to do. My training kicked in and I told some girls to go get an adult to help. I layed down on the floor with the girl to help protect her head, protect her airway, and time her seizure. When a teacher came to help she panicked and did not know what to do. I respectfully, but firmly told her to get the school nurse and the school administrators to call 911. We were able to get the girl help quickly and she had no long term issues from the seizure. We did not know each other before this event, but I did not hesitate to help a fellow classmate at school. I decided I want to be a biology major because I think I want to do something in the medical field and there are so many options to help people. Recently I went to my doctor because I have a couple of odd things happening. I thought she would say it was nothing and send me home. Unfortunately, this opened the door to more appointments with a cardiologist, a rheumatologist, and a lot of blood tests. It has been stressful, but so many of the people I have met at the appointments have been reassuring and help me to be calmer. This experience has also helped me realize that I want to do something in healthcare when I graduate from college. Thank you for considering me for your scholarship to honor the life of Ryan Murray.

Basketball is in my blood; my grandfather is a Colorado Hall of Fame basketball coach and my dad is also a basketball coach. At the same time, I share my mom's non-athletic and small frame genetic pool. My whole life other coaches and players have told me I would be better if I was taller, stronger, and faster. I have pushed myself my whole life through diet, exercise, and skills training to overcome my physical limitations and meet those expectations. The Covid shutdown brought both obstacles and opportunities for improvement. I was not allowed to play basketball with my team or friends and found myself with too much time on my hands. This extra time took me down a dark path of mental health issues, but basketball and my family was the light at the end of the tunnel. I found peace, solitude, and connections through playing basketball with my dad in the driveway. The fresh air, sunshine, deeper relationship with my dad, and the rhythmic sound of the basketball on the asphalt restored my mental health and taught me how to take control of my thoughts and actions. In high school I was fortunate to have a basketball coach who believe in me and he taught me to believe in myself. He would tell me to tune out all of the background noise and my self doubts and to play the game I love. During intense games my coach would tell me to dig deep and shoot the ball like my dad taught me to do. He called me fun nicknames and told me I was his secret weapon with my small frame and fake eyelashes. No one expected me to shoot like I did during out of state games because of how I looked visually. We would play against teams that should have beat us, but our coach built us into confident athletes who could win. In contrast, I also had a coach in high school who took me out of the game every time I make a mistake. He told me that if I could not play better that I would sit on the bench. My confidence fell and I started playing afraid to make a mistake, which led me to make more mistakes. I called my other coach for help and advice. He reminded me of how to tune out the negative thoughts and to play the game I love the way I know how to play it. These two influences are helping me to listen to people invested in my success and how to tune out other voices. Of course, my dad has always told me I am the very best, but unfortunately other people's voices can be stronger than those of family. This experience in basketball is also teaching me the utmost importance of my family. Basketball has taught me how to push harder, even when I feel like I have nothing left to give. I learned time management as I juggled school work, practice, and family time. Basketball has taught me to overcome self doubts and to listen to people who are a positive influence for me. I have overcome a major hurdle and have accepted an offer and partial scholarship to play basketball in college and this scholarship would help me cover the remaining expenses.

In April of 2020 I felt like my life was crashing down and I began making drastic plans to end my life. I felt isolated and alone without the life experience to know that this part of my life would not last forever. I was lucky that my parents work with teens and knew how to help me find a light in the tunnel of darkness during a pandemic, but not all people are as lucky. This time in my life showed me a new passion for helping people and how alone people can feel in their problems. In high school we studied the mental health crisis in several of my classes and I did my AP Research project on mental health resources. Through my passion for school, sports and my family, I have been able to build my own network of help and extend it to friends and peers feeling the same lack of hope and light. I was able to see a private counselor who taught me several great coping skills. Facing mental health issues showed me how important it is to choose my friends and relationships wisely. I learned to invest my time with people who would also be invested in my best interests. I learned how deep my family's love and support runs and how they will always be there to bring me up. My basketball coaches helped me find my confidence in hard situations and to know how to dig deeper and persevere in the face of self doubt and adversity. Life is harder than I expected, but going through my personal mental health crisis in 2020 helped me to see there are healthier ways to cope during them and how I can help others in the same situation. Some people may not always have my best interests in their heart, which is okay because everyone is dealing with their own path. It is my responsibility to determine how much of myself and time I invest in them. Some people are in my life for a short season and some people are in my life for the long term. Both types are important and I can learn a lot about the world from them both. I am excited to start college and pursue a career in helping others. I am afraid to move away from my family and support system, but know they are only a phone call and a train ride away. My experiences with mental health, healthy relationships, and a broader view of the world has helped give me a better foundation to start the next phase and adventure in my education and life!