Coach T is what my group of high school basketball girls call me. For five years, I have dedicated my time to coach middle school and high school girls the game of basketball. My teachers and coaches had the biggest impact on my life growing up. I coach because of those people. They helped me become the person I am today. When life got hard, my coaches were the people that I went to for comfort, not my parents. During season, players spend more time with their coaches and teammates then they do with their family. What we do with that time matters and make or break some people through life. I am a current high school basketball coach, PE teacher, and Earth and Environmental science teacher. I am around high school students all day. High school now is so different then it used to be, even when I was in school ten years ago. High school students are mean, especially girls. I have witnessed the impact of social media and words on people and how it destroys confidence and friendships. I have seen players who have to leave practice early because they have to work to help provide for their families. These are high school students! They have so many responsibilities now plus the added stresses of being a high school student. My goal as a coach is to give them a place they can go and remove all that added stress and have some fun in a sport they enjoy. But also, my goal is to be someone they can come to when life happens and feels like it is falling apart. I am blessed to be with a group of ten to twelve girls every day when we are in season. We cry together and we laugh together. During the five months we are in season, they get to be kids for two hours every day. Seeing the joy the players have being together or just not being at home makes it worth the time being away from my home and family. It is not easy, but if just one player has a different outcome in life because they played on my team, then all the time and effort put in to the season becomes worth it. I love them because sports changed my life. I hope my love can change their lives too because being a high school student is hard in todays world. Coaching is worth it if you can impact a life.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 is my life verse. It states 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong (NIV). The reason I love this verse is being a leader also involves situations where I am not strong or experienced enough. Those are the situations where God shows himself. He always pulls through during hardships in life, work, family, etc. I am currently a girls high school basketball head coach. One can imagine the hardships any coach endures, but especially a girls coach. Every day here is a new issue arising. This past year, however, there was one especially hard situation. An argument arose and players and managers threatened to quit. I was stressed because we were already down to ten players and the team could not afford to lose anymore. I prayed and sure enough God answered me right away. I had never done a devotion before with the team, but I was confident that is what God wanted me to do. I was terrified because I am at a public school and technically am not allowed, but God gave me so much peace I could not deny it. I went in to practice the next day and before we touched a basketball, I led the team in a devotion and everyone could feel the tension in the room dissipate. It was the most amazing thing I have ever experienced. In my own power, I could not have made that situation better. God used me to speak to the girls, but without him the season would have ended on a negative note. After that day, I tried to remind the girls of the devotion and referenced more verses. God showed me that I can witness to the people around me even in a public institution. For as long as I am a coach, I will continue to lead through Christ and share his love with those around me. There are times when the only love my players get is through me. Christ can help me change the lives of those around me and I am thankful for the situation he has put me in.

In June of last year, my husband and I found ourselves in the hospital waiting for him to complete his first round of dialysis. After two months of training, we now do dialysis four times every week in our home. Kidney disease has had a major impact on our immediate family. We always knew he was going to need one, but it always happens when you least expect it. I am currently his caregiver along with his mother. Every morning, we wake up at 5 A.M. to get the machine ready. By 6:30 we are ready to get started. I have to put two needles into his arm, it hurts him every time, so the machine can clean his blood. After I get him started, I get ready for work and his mother shows up around 7:15 to relieve me. There are doctors appointments every week we have to attend which makes it difficult to work a full time job. He currently is not working due to dialysis and I am a high school teacher. As soon as I get home, I become his caregiver again though. I never stop working. There are times when I get home and his port starts bleeding so we have to quickly react and stop the bleeding. Since we do dialysis at home, we are always reminded of the disease. There are wires all over the house for the machine. However, I am very fortunate we can do dialysis at home. Our mental health as a couple would greatly decrease if he had to do dialysis at home. It has allowed us to bond because we have hours together just talking while he is doing dialysis. Moreover, dialysis also has negative effects. We cannot go on vacation for more than two days. We have to be strategic if we go anywhere because the machine is keeping him alive. It is frustrating, but again, I still have a husband because of it. For me personally, my dream job is to be an athletic director. However, there are times I feel I may have to reconsider this dream. Being a school teacher now allows me to be home by 3:30 and relieve his mother from caregiving. Being an athletic director requires much longer hours. If we can't find him a kidney or a flexible school, then I may have to put that dream on hold so I can continue to care for my husband. We have had a spend a few thousand dollars on his dialysis room to prepare for the machine and cover the remaining medical bills insurance does not take care of. Therefore, we do not have a lot of extra money to spare. This scholarship would help with my student loans and allow us to focus our money on other needs.

My mother is the strongest person I know. She is my hero because I strive to live a life as strong as she is, even to this day she continues to inspire me. She has battled breast cancer, divorce, and house foreclosure all while supporting her three children in sports. There are things I am just now finding out, almost twenty years later. In 2008, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. A typical day for her was dropping my siblings and I off at school, then doing radiation treatment alone followed by work. Growing up, I had no idea should would have radiation treatment as soon as she dropped us off. She never complained about her schedule, she just did it because she had to. She put her family first. She even let my soccer team sign her bald head if we beat a specific team, which we did! She was so strong and I never knew until years later when she finally told us what she had to do. Our mom eventually defeated breast cancer and recovered. Her hair grew back and things were back to normal, or so we thought. We soon discovered our father was cheating on her during the cancer treatments. So, she kicked him out of the house. We already had a superhero mother, but now she was alone because what she did not mention was he was not supporting us. He would attend our games, but that was it. Because of his lack of support, we ended up losing the house. Again, growing up we had no idea it was because we could not afford the payments. Our mother told us we were just moving to get away. We had friends who supported us more than he did. We moved from apartment to apartment and house to house. We did not stay anywhere longer than what seemed two years. The thing that stands out to me the most is how she dealt with our father. Yes, he was kicked out of the house. But, she allowed him to come to the house to hang out with the three of us. He came to our games to support us. She dealt with the pain and heartache of seeing him just so we could have a normal life where both parents are highly involved. To me, that is the strongest thing she could have done and that is the reason we are who we are today. She is inspiring! Now, she is our biggest supported. She travels everywhere in Tennessee to watch my husband and I run bowling tournaments. She traveled three hours one way to meet us two weekends ago. She coordinated the entire family to get together in Texas because our brother could not travel for the holidays. She visits all of her children any time she can and we live in different states. Our mother gave us an amazing childhood despite the trauma that she went through. She taught me how to be strong. She taught me how to be an independent woman. She also taught me success if not necessarily about money, it's how you spend time with your friends and family. My mom made me who I am today. This scholarship will help me pay my way through college and chase my dreams of being an athletic director! Without my mother, none of this is possible.

In 2014, I was a junior in high school ready to give up basketball for good. Mentally, I was so frustrated with a knee injury and the recruiting process that I was ready to stop playing. I had a pain I could not identify and was too young to realize it was an internal pain. In order to help, I started to cut my wrists. It gave me a pain I could identify and pin point. However, I knew that was not the way to deal with the pain so I started going to a counselor which helped. My mental health improved, but I believe I went through that struggle for a reason. One year after my struggle with mental health, my sister got a concussion. My parents were separated and my brother was away at college. Therefore, it was just my mom and I and it was the hardest thing we have ever gone through together. My sister spiraled downhill for the next two years making my senior year was the hardest year. My sister cut her wrists first, then stomach and thigh so we could not see, and eventually tried to kill herself by taking pills. It was so bad that my parents would not let me see her in the hospital. I had to play basketball without her. That was always our thing, but I had to be strong for my family. Fortunately, I had some great teachers looking out for me, but if it wasn't for my mental health battle, I would not have gotten through it. It grew my faith tremendously. I finally told my sister I had cut the previous year and were able to bond over our experiences and heal together. It was not until college that we were able to finally overcome the struggle. We lived together for the first year of college in a very small dorm room. One morning, I was woken up to a knock on the door. I looked at my sisters bed and she was nowhere to be found. I opened the door to staff from the university explaining that she was in the hospital because she attempted to kill herself with pills. I was the only family my sister had because we were out of state, so I went to see her at the hospital. That was when I knew she was going to be okay. She said the second time was different than the first because she did not want to be there. She was put on antidepressants and we moved out of the dorm away from each other. That was the best thing that could have happened to us. Our relationship became healthy and mentally she became better than she had been in a long time. I felt like I had my sister back. We found out later on that mental health runs in our family. Our grandmother on our fathers side struggled with depression along with our mother. It has made us more aware of the mental health battle because so many people think you can easily just think happy thoughts. It is so much more than that, it is a disease that is hard to fight and is more common than people think.

I have been around sports my entire life. I have played soccer, volleyball, and my main sport basketball for as long as I could walk. My family was heavily involved in all of those sports, so you could say I was born into it. I will be forever grateful for the impact that sports have had on my life. I have met some amazing people in all of these sports. My best friends come from my high school team. My mentors come from my middle school coaches and travel ball coaches. I was surrounded by people who cared on and off the court. Before games, we would all study together and get homework done. The older players would help the younger ones. We held each other accountable, which kept everyone out of trouble. Because of the players I was around, I learned how to become a true leader both on and off the court. As for the coaches, they taught me what it looks like to care. I have a team of my own now and a lot of the things I do come from my previous coaches. My attitude and relationships towards my players comes from my high school coaches, the grit in practice comes from my soccer coach, and my knowledge is a mixture of everyone. Most of all, my passion comes from my physical education teacher who was also one of my middle school coaches. My physical education coach is one of the biggest reasons I went to school to be a P.E. and health teacher. My goal is to build relationships with my players as she did with me and so many others. If I can impact one life the way I was impacted, then all the long nights preparing to teach, and coach was worth it. I want to continue my education in sports because I would like to become an athletic director one day. I want to show other women that we can rise and be respected in a career that is mainly run by men. Sports is my way to connect, so the more involved I am, the more impact I can have on others. Additionally, I have considered starting an AAU program for girls interested in basketball. In my area, there is nothing within an hour, and most families cannot afford the big teams in Charlotte. The girls in our area need more exposure to basketball. However, before I can start a program, I need to learn how to manage one. A master’s degree in Sport and Fitness Administration will give me the knowledge to impact so many young girls and get them involved in sports!

I am responsible for roughly ten, high school, female, athletes from October to the beginning of March. They and their parents rely on me to teach them concepts and skills mainly about basketball, but also life, so they can become successful young women in the future. I am also responsible for anywhere from sixty to eighty high school students from August to May. They rely on me to teach them concepts about Earth and Environmental Science so we can take better care of the Earth. There are days where I have to care for them like a parent and others where they just need a friend to talk to. All of those situations require a leader to be there and provide support. Additionally, I am purposeful about what I am teaching them so hopefully one day, a few students can make the world we live in a better place. The younger generation needs people who care about them for more than just their grades or how many points they score in a game. They need people to love them and teach them about life. That is what I get to do almost every day and I absolutely love it. I lead these students in the classroom and on the court, and I get to witness the growth they make in a year. I am grateful for what I get to experience on a daily basis. Nina King, Director of Athletics at Duke University, is someone I look up to. She has been a successful leader at Duke since 2008 where she excelled in her role on the executive leadership team, and now Director of Athletics. She has helped pave the way for women in sports. In the future, I want to continue impacting the lives of students and athletes. I am pursuing my dream of becoming an athletic director, like Nina King. The field of sports is a highly competitive field, and I want to show other women that we can do whatever we want as long as we put our mind to it. Additionally, being an athletic director provide me the opportunity to be around sports. I would be responsible for leading both athletes and coaches as we build our programs and impact the lives of those not only in the school, but also in the community. Sports have a way of changing people's lives, I want to be a part of that change.

Once I became a head coach, my priorities changed. In my experience, there are very few people who go out of their way to watch a high school girls basketball team play. I decided the best way to get fans to our games was to get them involved in the community. In doing that, it helped me as a person because I was involved and getting to know others in a city I was not raised in. My high school team and I volunteered at a church to help them set up their pumpkin patch which they do as a fundraiser. This particular church is fulled with older people, so they desperately needed some help because they ordered around 800 pumpkins. The congregation was so thankful to have us there. We also helped this church with their food pantry for one day. We carried hundreds of canned goods to the pantry and organized them in categories. It seemed simple to us, but the church was so grateful for our help. For us, it seemed like a simple task, but to the church is meant a lot. In response, a couple of the members came to our games and made pre-game meals to support us which was awesome for the girls to see. Individually, I served at my church's Vacation Bible School. I have always gone to church, but have never been comfortable talking about my faith. I was asked to lead the youth group of VBS which is middle school to high school. I was terrified to lead it because I had never done it, which is funny because I am a high school teacher. However, it got me out of my comfort zone because I had to share the gospel with the students. We talked about the fruits of the spirit, God given gifts, and the armor of God. I was thankful for the opportunity to step up in my church and share the gospel with with the next generation of students. I will continue to get my teams involved with the community because the community supports us. It is our way of giving back and thanking them for their support. My experience with volunteering for churches has sparked my interest to get more involved personally because I loved getting to know the kids I had seen running around after service. Getting involved will help me continue to grow and get more comfortable sharing my faith which will trickle down to my high school team. Volunteering at church could lead to many lives being changed.

I am responsible for roughly ten, high school, female, athletes from October to the beginning of March. They and their parents rely on me to teach them concepts and skills mainly about basketball, but also life, so they can become successful young women in the future. I am also responsible for anywhere from sixty to eighty high school students from August to May. They rely on me to teach them concepts about Earth and Environmental Science so we can take better care of the Earth. There are days where I have to care for them like a parent and others where they just need a friend to talk to. All of those situations require a leader to be there and provide support. Additionally, I am purposeful about what I am teaching them so hopefully one day, a few students can make the world we live in a better place. The younger generation needs people who care about them for more than just their grades or how many points they score in a game. They need people to love them and teach them about life. That is what I get to do almost every day and I absolutely love it. I lead these students in the classroom and on the court, and I get to witness the growth they make in a year. I am grateful for what I get to experience on a daily basis. Nina King, Director of Athletics at Duke University, is someone I look up to. She has been a successful leader at Duke since 2008 where she excelled in her role on the executive leadership team, and now Director of Athletics. She has helped pave the way for women in sports. In the future, I want to continue impacting the lives of students and athletes. I am pursuing my dream of becoming an athletic director, like Nina King. The field of sports is a highly competitive field, and I want to show other women that we can do whatever we want as long as we put our mind to it. Additionally, being an athletic director provide me the opportunity to be around sports. I would be responsible for leading both athletes and coaches as we build our programs and impact the lives of those not only in the school, but also in the community. Sports have a way of changing people's lives, I want to be a part of that change.

I am responsible for roughly ten, high school, female, athletes from October to the beginning of March. They and their parents rely on me to teach them concepts and skills mainly about basketball, but also life, so they can become successful young women in the future. I am also responsible for anywhere from sixty to eighty high school students from August to May. They rely on me to teach them concepts about Earth and Environmental Science so we can take better care of the Earth. There are days where I have to care for them like a parent and others where they just need a friend to talk to. All of those situations require a leader to be there and provide support. Additionally, I am purposeful about what I am teaching them so hopefully one day, a few students can make the world we live in a better place. The younger generation needs people who care about them for more than just their grades or how many points they score in a game. They need people to love them and teach them about life. That is what I get to do almost every day and I absolutely love it. I lead these students in the classroom and on the court, and I get to witness the growth they make in a year. I am grateful for what I get to experience on a daily basis. Nina King, Director of Athletics at Duke University, is someone I look up to. She has been a successful leader at Duke since 2008 where she excelled in her role on the executive leadership team, and now Director of Athletics. She has helped pave the way for women in sports. In the future, I want to continue impacting the lives of students and athletes. I am pursuing my dream of becoming an athletic director, like Nina King. The field of sports is a highly competitive field, and I want to show other women that we can do whatever we want as long as we put our mind to it. Additionally, being an athletic director provide me the opportunity to be around sports. I would be responsible for leading both athletes and coaches as we build our programs and impact the lives of those not only in the school, but also in the community. Sports have a way of changing people's lives, I want to be a part of that change.

I got to sign my mother's bald head! My mom fought breast cancer and coached my soccer team at the same time. We were playing a tough team and my mom told us if we win, she would let us all sign her head with a Sharpie marker. I will never forget the feeling of my mom turning a negative situation in her life into one of the most memorable soccer moments. Additionally, our assistant coach collected our uniforms and ironed on the breast cancer symbol. We dedicated that entire season to my mother. Every time we had a game, I had something to fight for. That was my way of helping my mom fight. I know it affected my teammates as well which is why I chose to be a coach just like my mom was for me. Coaching gives me the opportunity to impact young athletes and guide them through all phases of life. My mother has been my hero since 2006 as I watched her fight cancer. Today, she will continue to say that her faith in God is the only reason she made it through. She is the reason I believe in God. She set an example of how to walk through life. My faith is strong because I had someone to watch, and I can rely on my faith to get through the highs and lows of life. I am so thankful that I had a strong mom who had faith in a God who heals. God healed my mom from cancer and he did not stop there. He has walked with us through some of the hardest times in life. Without witnessing my mom's faith through cancer, my life would be very different right now. God saved me and my family. My mother also showed me how important it is to have solid friends in life. I remember walking into the hospital and her room was full of her friends. It was so heartwarming to know she has a lot of support, but it still did not heal the hurt that was in my heart seeing my mom. Growing up, my friendships have been so strong because I saw how her friends supported us. They were there for her during the hardest times of her life. That is what friends are for, so again, I had people to watch that showed me what true friends are like. Cancer was a horrible experience, but so many good things came out of it too. God is with those who love him in all phases of life. We were stronger as a family when my mom defeated cancer, we knew how to support each other better because of the friendships my mom had. Cancer made us a better family.

Growing up, I was always involved in sports. Mt family was a bunch of athletes and it was awesome! I always say how nice it is to be able to throw something at someone and not worry if they will catch it. With that being said, I was always running around playing basketball and soccer. By the time I was a junior in high school, my twin sister and I had committed to play Division 1 college basketball for four years at Gardner-Webb University. There, I struggled with gaining weight because I could not eat enough during the season. I would gain weight in the summer and lose it all by the end of the season. It was very frusterating, but I could not figure out how to keep the weight on. After I graduated, I struggled with working out. I had to learn how to exercise on my own because I always had someone telling me what to do. Thankfully, I got a degree in health and physical education so I was knowledgeable enough to create my workouts. However, as a recent graduate, I was not making a lot of money so I did not want to pay for a gym membership. I did a lot of bodyweight workouts at home for about a year. They were great, but I lost a lot of muscle because I was not lifting the weights I used to. I got a consistent job and then gained some confidence to finally go to a gym. I have been there ever since and love exercising. It makes me feel good physically and mentally, and I have so much confidence in myself. I am more confident now than I have ever been. My next step is to focus on adding more cardio. I got away from it because I have injuries from playing sports that make running uncomfortable. At the gym, I like to add the elliptical, stair stepper, or row machine for my cardio workout. They are less taxing on my body so I can go for longer. I do not enjoy them, but I am determined to be better with cardio! Being in athletics my entire life challenged me to make changes after graduation. I used my knowledge from school and research to create my workouts. Whether it was focusing on muscular strength or endurance, I am now able to make adjustments and fully enjoy working out!

My dream is to be a successful female athletic director in a field dominated by men.

Generational wealth has to do with the wealth that is passed down from generations of family. Parents pass their wealth to their kids to help them be successful in life and they do the same for their kids. It can be millions, thousands, or hundreds. Anything that is passed down is generational wealth. I believe it can also be physical items such as jewelry. I also think it is very difficult to generate money to be able to pass down enough to make a difference in the next generation. For some, it is even harder. It takes a lot of hard work, and support from those around you. My family has never had generational wealth passed down even though we have worked extremely hard. We have engineers in the family who have made a lot of money, but we have also had a lot of health issues that take the excess money. To build my generational wealth I plan to continue working hard and stand out in my career. That is why I decided to get my master's degree with the end goal of becoming a female athletic director. I want to show women that they can be successful in a field dominated by men. Women can do whatever they set their minds to. I also want to impact young athletes and help them through some of the most fun yet stressful times of their life. Being an athletic director may not bring a lot of money to pass on for generational wealth, but that is where saving and investing come into play. I plan to invest and grow my retirement funds to where I am comfortable and then have enough to pass on to my children to help them get on their feet after school. I also plan on having a side "job". My husband and I currently run bowling tournaments which have become successful and a third stream of income. The more money that is coming in, the more we can save and pass on. Generational wealth is difficult to achieve, but hard work makes it possible. With smart money management and investing, one can save enough money to pass on to the next generation and set them up for success. Everyone says to have fun when you're young and spend money because you will not be able to do the same things when you are older. That saying may be true, but I think there is a balance between spending and saving that needs to be met so that when retirement arrives, one can retire and not have to work for years after.

I have been around sports my entire life. I have played soccer, volleyball, and my main sport basketball for as long as I could walk. My family was heavily involved in all of those sports, so you could say I was born into it. I will be forever grateful for the impact that sports have had on my life. I have met some amazing people in all of these sports. My best friends come from my high school team. My mentors come from my middle school coaches and travel ball coaches. I was surrounded by people who cared on and off the court. Before games, we would all study together and get homework done. The older players would help the younger ones. We held each other accountable, which kept everyone out of trouble. Because of the players I was around, I learned how to become a true leader both on and off the court. As for the coaches, they taught me what it looks like to care. I have a team of my own now and a lot of the things I do come from my previous coaches. My attitude and relationships towards my players comes from my high school coaches, the grit in practice comes from my soccer coach, and my knowledge is a mixture of everyone. Most of all, my passion comes from my physical education teacher who was also one of my middle school coaches. My physical education coach is one of the biggest reasons I went to school to be a P.E. and health teacher. My goal is to build relationships with my players as she did with me and so many others. If I can impact one life the way I was impacted, then all the long nights preparing to teach, and coach was worth it. I want to continue my education in sports because I would like to become an athletic director one day. I want to show other women that we can rise and be respected in a career that is mainly run by men. Sports is my way to connect, so the more involved I am, the more impact I can have on others. Additionally, I have considered starting an AAU program for girls interested in basketball. In my area, there is nothing within an hour, and most families cannot afford the big teams in Charlotte. The girls in our area need more exposure to basketball. However, before I can start a program, I need to learn how to manage one. A master’s degree in Sport and Fitness Administration will give me the knowledge to impact so many young girls and get them involved in sports!

I have been around sports my entire life. I have played soccer, volleyball, and my main sport basketball for as long as I could walk. My family was heavily involved in all of those sports, so you could say I was born into it. I will be forever grateful for the impact that sports have had on my life. I have met some amazing people in all of these sports. My best friends come from my high school team. My mentors come from my middle school coaches and travel ball coaches. I was surrounded by people who cared on and off the court. Before games, we would all study together and get homework done. The older players would help the younger ones. We held each other accountable, which kept everyone out of trouble. Because of the players I was around, I learned how to become a true leader both on and off the court. As for the coaches, they taught me what it looks like to care. I have a team of my own now and a lot of the things I do come from my previous coaches. My attitude and relationships towards my players comes from my high school coaches, the grit in practice comes from my soccer coach, and my knowledge is a mixture of everyone. Most of all, my passion comes from my physical education teacher who was also one of my middle school coaches. My physical education coach is one of the biggest reasons I went to school to be a P.E. and health teacher. My goal is to build relationships with my players as she did with me and so many others. If I can impact one life the way I was impacted, then all the long nights preparing to teach, and coach was worth it. I want to continue my education in sports because I would like to become an athletic director one day. I want to show other women that we can rise and be respected in a career that is mainly run by men. Sports is my way to connect, so the more involved I am, the more impact I can have on others. Additionally, I have considered starting an AAU program for girls interested in basketball. In my area, there is nothing within an hour, and most families cannot afford the big teams in Charlotte. The girls in our area need more exposure to basketball. However, before I can start a program, I need to learn how to manage one. A master’s degree in Sport and Fitness Administration will give me the knowledge to impact so many young girls and get them involved in sports!