As the years of high school pass by, my amount of personal free time dwindles. But I love it. I cannot sit at my house all day doing nothing, especially while knowing other people are out working hard. This ambitious mentality that I have developed has pushed me to reach new heights that I would have never believed as a rising COVID year freshman. The pandemic slowed down many of my peers from becoming their best in high school, but I like to think that all the free time helped me learn how much I yearned for busy. I learned how to manage my grades, sports, and social life while still finding other extracurriculars to enjoy. As the current STEM Club Vice President and a Chief Science Officer of IU13, I devote my time to create a better environment for student scientists. This love of helping others led me to years of volunteering at the Lancaster Science Factory where I first learned about my curiosity for the intriguing mysteries and complex patterns of this world. My PopPop, an emeritus systems engineering professor, proudly showed me his own K-nex roller coaster that is still displayed there today. He taught me how to love learning and was the first to recognize my analytical thinking. As a toddler with pieces spread out on the floor, his adventurous personality taught me how to solve puzzles without looking at the cover box. In my preschool Montessori class, I was skip counting by 12’s before my classmates were adding past 10. This knack for realizing patterns flowed to the rhythms of music as I challenged myself to learn how to play guitar for my church praise band, baritone for the school and county band, and even tap dancing. The constant flap-heel-heel in tap dance allowed me to gain fast feet needed for the players I must defend on the pitch. And over my 15 years of playing, I have learned that soccer is a lot like engineering. Not the physics behind curving the ball or the mechanics of slide tackling, but the characteristics required by each team to succeed. I, as captain of my soccer team, have never been the hype man. Nevertheless, I know what it takes to make a team function. Whether it is involving the “new” guy or encouraging my teammates to move on from mistakes, I try to be a reliable person. With my openness to new experiences and attention to detail, I always seek to bring out each person’s unique attributes because that is their identity: their soccer position. Having the ability to evaluate yours and your teammates’ strengths is needed for a winning soccer squad and is essential for collaboration among engineers. This fall, I will attend Cornell University where I plan to balance elite competition on the soccer pitch with the rigorous study of robotics and nanotechnology within their School of Engineering. The thought of being around so many curious people excites me, but gaining academic financial awards among such talented classmates becomes quite difficult. As the Ivy League does not give any athletic scholarships, I greatly cherish any financial support that allows me to concentrate on my studies. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have been blessed to walk into, and I know that my dreams of playing soccer at the highest level and constantly pushing my brain and body to its limit will keep me energized. Although he is not here to guide me today, my PopPop’s hunger to get out and experience life’s puzzles (without looking at its cover box) lives through me.

Each Thursday at 8:30 PM, I visit my guitar teacher, Jim Thomas, and play until the strumming turns into interesting conversations about many aspects of life. He loves talking about the complex human mind, intricacies of space, and mostly, our changing society. Recently, he told me about a study where researchers asked kids what they wanted to be when they grew up. Not surprisingly, most of them said celebrities. With the rise of social media, it makes sense how these inexperienced kids would dream to be like their favorite Youtuber or TikTok star. If that remains their dream as they grow up, go for it; however, someday I hope they realize that success does not come from being loved by others. It comes from internal acceptance and embracement of your own qualities. Where one person may find pleasure in receiving an “A” on a Calculus test, others may find an 80% as an achievement. As an attacking soccer player may find success in a goal, defenders strive to keep a clean sheet. Personally, my success comes from seeing the past with admiration and looking to the future with excitement. Sometimes that excitement may resemble anxiety. Nonetheless, life has taught me that these nerves are just a byproduct of reaching for my goals. Since as long as I can remember, I have played soccer. Once a maniac running around the field, trying to touch my little foot on that appetizing circular ball, now I am the captain for the U19 Pennsylvania Classics MLS Next Academy team. Despite many hours playing and watching this beautiful game, I still feel nervous each time I touch the field. But these are not nerves of fear or lack of preparation, they are due to the high expectations that I have set upon myself. In the classroom, it is the same. The pandemic slowed many of my peers from becoming their best in high school, but all the free time taught me to become self-motivated. Working hard at my academics and becoming the STEM Club Vice President and a Chief Science Officer of our Lancaster region, I have cultivated my passion for engineering. My Poppop, an emeritus system engineering professor, saw my analytical mind at an early age. As a toddler with pieces spread out on the floor, he showed me how to solve puzzles. Yet to challenge my young mind and his adventurous personality, he laid out the pieces and tucked away the cover box so that the only way to find success and solve it was by looking at the shapes and patterns. He was there for my achievement in my preschool Montessori class where I was skip counting by 12 before my classmates were adding past 10. He was there with a chocolate chip cookie, corny jokes, and a puzzle in his hand whenever I was facing life’s early obstacles. But Poppop also had a fair share of difficulties. Doctors diagnosed him with polio in elementary school. After an aggressive treatment program, he gained his legs back. He relearned how to walk, then to run, and with incredible determination, studied engineering and ran track at Rutgers. His presence had a big impact on my life. And although his physical body is not here today, his success story is the role model of my own life. If it's strumming my guitar, tap dancing to help my skills on the soccer pitch, or solving that first puzzle with my Poppop, each experience has led to specific hardships but also vital takeaways. Excitingly, I will gain more of these experiences as a student athlete in Cornell University’s School of Engineering. The thought of being around so many curious people excites me, but gaining academic financial awards amongst such talented classmates becomes quite difficult. As the Ivy League does not offer athletic scholarships, I cherish any financial support that allows me to concentrate on my studies. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have been blessed to walk into, and I know that this scholarship will help my own success as I constantly push my brain and body throughout the upcoming years. I realize no person can control every little thing in their world. Each and every day, everyone is hit with a setback. But also, each and every day, people can make their own little success story. If you feel accomplished because you became a famous Youtuber or you feel successful because you received an 80% on that Calculus test, cherish that feeling. Being able to look back, reflect, and smile upon what happened and curiously navigate through life’s future puzzles (without access to its cover box) is the version of success that I seek.