As President of the National Honor Society, I led the effort for a large community service project making blankets. The blankets are donated to child protective services to give children something to comfort them when going through stressful and traumatic situations. I'm also a student representative on the New Lebanon Ministerial Association and well-known by the Board of Education as regular attendee at school board meetings. My participation in both helped secure large monetary donations from both groups to purchase fabric for the blankets. Additionally, my presence at the Board of Education meetings gained the trust of the board members. On several occasions, the board members asked for my opinion from a student perspective while discussing sensitive topics. Their confidence in my feedback inspired me to pursue a career where I can use my voice and influence for positive change. Martin Luther King Jr said, “A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.” I strive to follow the words of Dr. King. My career goal is to be a molder of consensus as a leader in a public service role. I want to be part of the solution that inspires empathy instead of hostility and replaces divisiveness with diplomacy. I am especially passionate about returning to my community to serve on the city council or school board.

I was in the sixth grade when I knew I wanted to play golf. I appreciated how the game was structured with individual accountability but still contributed to a team score. My inexperience wouldn’t hurt anyone else’s individual game and I was part of a team. On the day before our first match, we had our one and only practice. It was the first time I’d swung a club or hit a ball. I did not do it well. Despite my terrible showing, I was playing the next day. I was thrilled and very nervous. Our first match was The Ryder Cup, an 18-hole tournament. Fresh out of a grueling week of band camp, I was tired, sunburned and worst of all, chafed. I stepped out of the school van, tied the laces on the second-hand golf shoes I found in the athletic director’s office and strapped my golf bag to a pull cart borrowed from a teammate. A cool breeze temporarily soothed my sunburn while I gave myself a quick pep talk. The relief was short-lived because it was August in Ohio – the day was a scorcher. I walked to the driving range, silently praying no one noticed the awkward gait from my band camp souvenir chafing. I didn’t hit the ball more than twenty yards at the driving range and my putting wasn’t much better. I braced myself for a very long day. After warmups, Coach reviewed the tournament rules. The maximum score for any hole was two times the par for that hole. Whomever had the best score on each hole was the score that counted. My foursome walks to the first hole. The first three golfers teed off with decent shots. I was the last one to play. I teed up the ball, pulled back, and swung. The ball didn’t make it out of the tee box. I felt my face get hot as everyone stared. I swung again, same result. I quickly hit the maximum strokes for the hole and picked up my ball. This pattern continued for the rest of the day. On the third hole, the sole starts peeling away from my second-hand shoe. By the sixth hole, the sole was flapping as I walked. Coach checked in just as my foot slid completely out of my shoe. He taped the shoe together with medical tape and thankfully left the tape with me because five minutes after he was gone, I had to tape the other shoe. When Coach met me at the sixteenth hole, I could barely walk. The band camp chafe had progressed from uncomfortable to unbearable. He took me back to the clubhouse to rest. I was exhausted, sunburned, chafed and embarrassed but refused to be defeated. I told Coach, “I will get better. I will not quit”. Coach later shared that he was positive he would never see me again after that disastrous day. His doubt turned to pride when I kept coming back. At the end of the season, I received The Greyhound Award, for sportsmanship and dedication. He’s told every coach he knows the story about the kid with the taped shoes who would not quit. My progress was not quick, but eventually I improved and finished my high school golf career with a league honorable mention and team MVP. I kept the taped golf shoes to look back and draw strength from that day when faced with challenges or adversity. If I can survive something that miserable and embarrassing, I can power through anything. It was a life defining moment in courage, character, and perseverance.