I have always had a passion for stories and books! When I was little girl, I spent many afternoons wandering around the aisles of Barnes and Nobles, immersed in the rows of colorful books. I loved searching for new books and reading stories where I could use my imagination and make the tales come to life in my mind. I enjoyed visiting my community library with my family and looking at the wide variety of children books that I could read. I also loved going to the library in my elementary school, where there was something magical about being able to select my own book for the week! Inspired by my aunt who was a Division 1 Field Hockey goalkeeper, I have also been involved in field hockey since second grade. During that time, we tried out different field positions, and I always gravitated towards the goal as a defender, so much that I would often end up completely in the cage to defend our team. This is when we still played without goalkeepers, and it was a position on the field that I felt most comfortable. In sixth grade as we got older, our coaches started to ask teammates if they would be interested in trying out the goalkeeper position. Many of my teammates uncomfortably pulled on the bulky gear and gave it a try, but they found out it wasn't for them. They felt the gear made it cumbersome in which to move and many were simply afraid of taking fast shots from the ball. But when I put that gear on, those issues did not bother me at all. In fact, I often felt transformed into a stronger and braver version of myself while defending the cage because I knew I was protected with a strong mask, chest protector, neck protector, pelvis protector, leg pads, gloves and kickers and an intense desire to protect my goal at all costs. I have been shy for all of my life, but playing goalkeeper allowed me to develop self-confidence and communication skills. Through field hockey and the Leo Club, I have been able to volunteer over 100 hours during my high school years. Volunteering has build my self-confidence, allowed me to make new friends and gain new skills. I have worked with children, run goalkeeper clinics, served food, handled money, worked game booths and concession stands and I have had a great time doing it all with friends! This combination of a love of books, field hockey and volunteering has been a consistent element in my life. As I look forward into my future career, I would love to share my interests of reading and books with children as they grow up by becoming an elementary media specialist. I plan to engage my students through creative lesson activities, book swaps, book fairs and author visits just as I was able to experience. I hope to foster a love of the library for them just as I have had all of my life! Winning this scholarship would be so appreciated, as it would go towards paying for books, tuition and room and board. Thank you for considering me for this scholarship opportunity, it would help support me greatly as I go on to college to pursue my dream of becoming an elementary media specialist.

There is only so much time in a day. Sleep takes up at least 8 hours, so right there 1/3 of the 24 hours in the day is gone. What do you do with the remaining 2/3? Well, there’s school, of course, and studying, club meetings, eating dinner with your family, and if you are a high-school student athlete, you most likely have practices and games 6 days a week. Yes, that’s right, 6 days a week. Student athletes are some of the busiest kids on campus, juggling academics, athletics and living life to the fullest. Time management can be a huge challenge for student athletes, but the positive side of that is that we become very good at budgeting our time in order to get everything done on our to-do lists. We have to keep track of the classes and class work that we’ve missed when we’re released early for games. If we have a part-time job, we have to make sure that our practice schedules and our work schedules don’t conflict. Managing all of this during our high school years greatly prepares us for managing our lives in college and beyond. Another challenge I believe all student athletes face is pushing ourselves to do our best. I played field hockey and our workouts involved weight training, speed and agility conditioning, and endurance running. Our practices included practicing stick skills, various plays, corner drills and shooting on goal. Now, all of us have our own strengths and weaknesses. I say this, because while we all have things in which we excel and struggle, I would always bring my A game and try my best with every aspect of my sport. I may have always been one of the last runners to come in during our mile run, but I never stopped and I finished every time. Our team motto in our field hockey youth league was “Hustle, Hit and Never Quit” and I am proud to say that I definitely never quit. I pushed myself to finish everything- every practice, every weight training session and every mile run. I feel that this has shown me how to be resilient and complete tasks that I find to be difficult. I have learned that if I stick with it and don’t give up, I will be successful in the end. The phrase “Hustle, Hit and Never Quit” applies to sports, but it also applies to real life, too! If I try hard and never quit, I will be able to accomplish great things in my life! As a goalkeeper, communication was a major aspect of my position. I was expected to guide the field players, because from my vantage point I can see the entire field and I can see every player’s position. I am a shy person, so yelling directions to the field players didn’t come naturally to me. But I kept at it, making sure my voice was loud and my directions were simple and clear, so that my field players could easily understand what I was saying. Time management, resiliency and communication are all skills that I have sharpened through the challenges and experiences that I’ve faced as a student athlete. As I get older, I know that I won’t play sports forever, but I can certainly take all of the lessons that I’ve learned through playing field hockey and keep them with me for a lifetime. These lessons that I’ve learned on the field will help me be successful off of the field in college and in my career.

Inspired by my aunt who was a Division 1 Field Hockey goalkeeper, I decided to try field hockey when I was in second grade. During that time, we tried out different field positions, and I always gravitated towards the goal as a defender, so much that I would often end up completely in the cage to defend our team. This is when we still played without goalkeepers, and it was a position on the field that I felt most comfortable. In sixth grade as we got older, our coaches started to ask teammates if they would be interested in trying out the goalkeeper position. Many of my teammates uncomfortably pulled on the bulky gear and gave it a try, but they found out it wasn't for them. They felt the gear made it cumbersome in which to move and many were simply afraid of taking fast shots from the ball. But when I put that gear on, those issues did not bother me at all. In fact, I often felt transformed into a stronger and braver version of myself while defending the cage because I knew I was protected with a strong mask, chest protector, neck protector, pelvis protector, leg pads, gloves and kickers and an intense desire to protect my goal at all costs. I have been shy for all of my life, but playing the position of goalkeeper has really helped me to come out of my shell. In particular, I had a coach named Stephanie Palmieri who really supported me and helped me grow in the game and personally in my life. Coach Steph was my goalie coach with the High Styx indoor hockey club and she was also my team coach for one year. Coach Steph ran our team practices, as well as our weekly goalkeeper sessions. Our goalkeeper sessions were specifically geared towards developing goalkeeping skills, such as dives, slides, splits, hand saves, kick saves and communication with the field players. She personally coached me to slide and dive during live games, and she was able to help me take the skills I practiced with her during our goalkeeper sessions and put them into action during our games. Out of all of the coaches I have worked with over my ten years in playing field hockey/indoor hockey, Coach Steph is the only coach who was able to really connect with me, see my potential and tap into that potential with her attention and support. She was able to get the best out of me in the cage and I am ever so grateful to have had her as my coach. She believed in me and that helped me to overcome my shyness and believe in myself, too.