I have faced various challenges in life that have shaped my character and drive. Since childhood, my dream has always been to play soccer professionally and use my platform to inspire people. Injury, money, and family responsibilities, however, came in the way. Despite such setbacks, never did I give up. Instead, I took my adversity and turned it into motivation, trying even harder to succeed at my endeavors and make a brighter future for myself. Balancing school, soccer, and family responsibilities was one of the greatest challenges I had to overcome. My parents previously tried to run a small businesses, but they closed due to my father's health condition. This was a terrible period for the whole family since it placed a lot of strain on our finances. I worked countless hours to try and sustain the family without getting behind on my schoolwork or soccer. Later on, all my efforts came to fruition as I got onto my junior college soccer team, where I was the team captain and also a Second Team All-Star in the NWAC. This only made me more confident that with hard work and determination, anyone can overcome any obstacle. After completing two years at my junior college, I was resolved to attend a four-year college and play soccer on scholarship while pursuing a degree in psychology. My motivation for pursuing psychology as a study is highly influenced by the life of my father. He was severely injured, which impacted his working ability, and I witnessed firsthand how proper care and rehabilitation could change one's life. This experience deepened my passion for physical therapy and sports science with the aim of helping players prevent or recover from injury. Activities pursued towards the realization of my goal have been dedicated to learning, attending schools with very highly regarded sports science infrastructure, and advancement in the career of playing soccer. The second experience was worked as a caregiver for the elderly, where the virtues of care and patience were learned. Playing soccer as team captain developed the resilience of leading an organization and pushing it forward into the future of my professional years. This scholarship would take some of the economic pressure off my family and enable me to remain in school and advance my professional goals. Much more importantly, it would reassure me that second chances are possible and always worth the struggle. I would like to apply my education and experience to help those who are also in need of their own second chances, like injured student-athletes, struggling students, or individuals beset by the vagaries of life. To pay forward, I would make my professional career one to serve young athletes with the potential of lowering their susceptibility to injury and enhancing their capacities. I also want to guide and prepare athletes from less served communities and offer them facilities and opportunities they might not get without me. Similarly, Nelson Vecchione had belief in second chance, so I would promote others not to lose their expectations. I am extremely grateful to have the opportunity to apply for the Second Chance Scholarship. I believe my individual story is particularly suited for this scholarship's vision, and I am committed to making a positive impact in people's lives. Thank you for taking the time to review my application.

I never considered that adversity was a test—it is preparation for something better. My existence has been characterized by sacrifice, resilience, and unshakeable faith that no matter how difficult things are going to get, God already prepared me to be able to endure it. I am now moving to a four-year college to finish my degree in exercise science, with the hope of attending graduate school for sports medicine, physical therapy, or sports psychology. My dream is to be a professional sports trainer, working with athletes and pushing them to their limits while maintaining them as healthy as possible. But getting there is not going to be simple. I have been homeless throughout my college life. I slept in my car for days, couch-surfing as much as possible. There were moments when I slept at the neighborhood spots or even at the security zone blind spots, hoping that God would keep me safe. Every day, I woke up early, bathed at a public gym, and kept my body in shape so that I could perform at my best in training and matches. Food was sometimes difficult to obtain, but I managed to survive—using EBT, going to food banks, and utilizing college facilities. Despite all these difficulties, I never let my circumstances dictate my future. I would go to Starbucks and libraries for hours reading and then go to soccer practice, pushing myself to be my best. I would shower at school after practice and work or study at night. Despite being tired, I never slackened on my grades, knowing that my studies were my way to success. Now that I'm moving into the second stage of my life, I have new issues. College soccer provides me with an athletic scholarship, but that doesn't cover everything. I will need to work full-time and attend school, taking on flexible jobs such as personal training to cover basic living expenses. All the concessions I make—missing parties, working double shifts, and struggling against exhaustion—are strides toward becoming a success in sports medicine. I do not just want to be successful—I need to be. I have already achieved this initial step by perseverance and diligent effort, and I will continue struggling towards my aspirations regardless of what lies in front of me. One day I'll be standing in a training facility or clinic, helping an athlete return to the field a stronger person than ever before, just as I have fought to continue. I am living proof that anything can be accomplished through faith, discipline, and determination.

My motivation to become a physical therapist is highly personal, having seen a family member struggle with physical disabilities. This has given me a desire to assist others in gaining strength, mobility, and confidence. Coupled with my life-long passion for sports, it has strengthened my resolve to pursue this career. But the path to making this dream a reality has not been an easy one, with many obstacles in the path, and money is essential to my further studies. As a captain of the Southwestern Oregon CC soccer team, I have learned to appreciate teamwork and leadership. It was extremely difficult one year and we hardly had any players. I worked hard, recruiting and mentoring new players, so that we would have a team and could play a good season. I learned the importance of cooperation, communication, and the power of teamwork from this experience. Juggling these kinds of responsibilities with school and the financial burden of assisting in supporting my family has taken huge dedication and resourcefulness. My semi-professional experience with the Vancouver Victory was a different kind of challenge. The competition was significantly greater, and I struggled initially to keep up my pace. This was a humbling experience as a whole, but in the end one of training. I had the real commitment, dedication, and persistence necessary to break through perceived limits of what I could possibly be. This pursuit of sporting excellence did incur some economic price, involving sacrifices and budgetary decisions, nonetheless. These encounters have strengthened my desire to merge physical therapy with personal training and coaching and elite-level athletics. I recognize that I may not only be able to rehabilitate the injured athletes to sports activity, but optimize their performances while preventing their recurrence. I aim to develop a holistic model of the athlete for well-being and peak performance. But for this to be possible, I need to continue my studies, and that is when this scholarship would come in handy. Coming from an area of low funds and already having battled through so much just to be at school. At times my sacrifices came in the form of struggle for food or shelter, or just our right to be homeless to achieve my higher educational dreams. This assistance would be revolutionary. It would have a great effect on tuition, and I would be able to dedicate myself to studying without constantly worrying about where I will be sleeping. It would be liberating time and energy that I currently invest in searching for additional work to support things so that I can concentrate fully on studying and engage in suitable extracurricular activities. It is not dollars here in this scholarship; it's the faith in my abilities and being given the means to really go out and pursue my goal to become a physical therapist. Perseverance, work ethic, and leadership are my greatest strengths. I fear no hard work, and I'm going to work hard to succeed in spite of circumstances. My capability to continue as a team captain, my commitment to continuing to play semi-pro soccer despite numerous setbacks, and my commitment to staying in school through times of economic hardship all attest to this. I think that these qualities coupled with my passion for physical therapy will allow me to bring something good to other people's lives. I look forward to pursuing my studies further, and with the help of the Dream Valley Landscaping foundation, I am confident that I will be able to accomplish my objectives and make a significant contribution to the field of sports and rehabilitation.

“When you want it, you will work for it” my dad has always told me despite the rough times we’ve gone through. I’m the son of two immigrant parents who moved into the United States twenty years ago. In Mexico, my mother graduated from high school, but my father was forced to drop out in third grade to help work on the farm with my grandfather. Once they settled in the United States, both my parents worked low wage jobs to put food on the table for my sister, brothers and I; even though later they decided to have two more kids. It is a blessing to have so much family, but it meant we needed to work more. Today, my mother works at our local Denny’s, and after my sister graduated from high school, she went into the work-force. My father hasn’t been able to work after nearly dying on a local dairy farm. When my parents first settled in Tillamook, OR, my mom stayed at home, while my father instantly got a job at one of the local dairy farms. Working overtime every week yet, only getting paid minimum wage meant that my dad never really got a break. For fifteen years my father worked at the dairy until his final year when he got a concussion after being kicked by a cow. His injury would become more severe because he was subsequently hit and denied treatment by doctors. This was followed by a stroke, sending him to St. Vincent Hospital where he was determined clinically dead; however, they were able to bring him back to life with a miracle. After being hospitalized for 2 weeks he was sent back home without any rehabilitation treatments because the boss’s insurance didn't for it. Following those two weeks of scares, some of the truths were yet to come. We had our dad back home but he felt lost. He needed assistance for everyday things. It was tough transitioning from having him be our mechanic, problem solver, financial support, and leader to caring for him. Financially we continued to struggle. The money I earned from the extra work I did went to pay for basic family bills. By working on the weekends and during the summers it balanced the financial support my father was not providing. During the school year, my sister and I constantly stayed home to take care of my father. For some time, my grades suffered and made me realize that life would not be handed to me. During my freshman year, I realized I needed to enroll in as many Honors, AP, and college classes available if I wanted to continue to support my family in the future. With this determination, I received my first set of straight A’s. Caring for my dad is my motivation to become a physical therapist. I have helped him improve his situation by looking up videos on YouTube and giving him the therapy he was not given by the doctors. Currently, I’m planning on pursuing a career in physical therapy, to help others who have been in similar situations as my father. Unlike the top-ranked students, I’m not the 4.0 student or have honors. Students like this and I could never be comparable as equals academically because of the unique background I have. My path has not been as clean as any of the students I sit in class with today, yet I have risen to their academic level. This winding road didn't leave me facing backward, but it gave me the motivation to achieve what I needed to achieve.