My name is Daniel Olson. I am about to start my 4th year at SMSU. I grew up in Northern Minnesota. When home, I live with my parents and my younger sister. I am the first in my family to attend a university. I enjoy running, basketball, camping, hunting, and hiking. My goal is to become a history teacher and hopefully, a basketball and track/cross country coach. I plan to achieve this by attending Southwest Minnesota State University and pursuing my degree in 5-12 social studies education while having a minor in coaching. While I am attending SMSU I will compete in their track and cross country programs. My hope is that during my time at SMSU I will learn about education, interacting with students, and how to provide the best education that I am able to provide once I graduate and get a job. I really do believe that you can best serve your community by being a part of it and helping those you can. I have always liked helping people, and the way that I have found best suits me is through educating others academically and encouraging them along with educating them through athletics. I love to see kids succeed and feel proud of themselves. I feel like I deserve this scholarship, because I have always worked hard at school and sports. I was honored to finish at the top of my graduating class. I have been a Varsity level athlete since I was in eighth grade. I am confident that being a 3 sport athlete has helped me learn how to balance life priorities, academics, and athletics. I have always tried to help kids that are younger than me both academically and in the sports that I have been in with them. During my senior year I started a tutoring group for some of the 7th/8th grades student athletes who were having a hard time balancing school and athletics. I helped them with their homework and helped them with study and organizational tips. For me, this really helped to confirm the course of study I am planning to take. As a future teacher, I am really hoping to not have a lot of student loan debt once I get into the teaching/coaching field. For this reason, I have worked really hard at applying for as many scholarships as I can. This scholarship would definitely help me to work towards my ultimate goal of zero student loan debt while an undergraduate. I really figure that if I don’t have to worry about paying off that debt, that I will have more time to put into youth coaching when I am out of college.

I am about to start my 4th year at SMSU. I grew up in Northern Minnesota. When home, I live with my parents and my younger sister. I am the first in my family to attend a university. I enjoy running, basketball, camping, hunting, and hiking. My goal is to become a history teacher and hopefully, a basketball and track/cross country coach. I plan to achieve this by attending Southwest Minnesota State University and pursuing my degree in 5-12 social studies education while having a minor in coaching. While I am attending SMSU I will compete in their track and cross country programs. My hope is that during my time at SMSU I will learn about education, interacting with students, and how to provide the best education that I am able to provide once I graduate and get a job. I was heavily influence by my middle through high school history teacher. He is one of the biggest reasons that I decided to specifically be a history teacher because I have aspirations to be just like him. He influenced me because I witnessed him develop a positive relationship with every single student who walked through the doors of his classroom. Through doing this he was able to create the most positive and engaging classroom that I have ever had the privilege to observe and to be a part of. I experienced this from both sides, as I was lucky enough to sit in his classroom and observe as well as teach a lesson in his classroom through a college class that I took while I was in high school. He taught me both directly and indirectly just how important talking to and understanding my students will be. One of the ways that he did this the most was just by finding common ground with his students, whether that is finding common interests, or even just showing interest in something that he knew nothing about. I was honored to finish at the top of my graduating class. I have been a Varsity level athlete since I was in eighth grade. I am confident that being a 3 sport athlete has helped me learn how to balance life priorities, academics, and athletics. I have always tried to help kids that are younger than me both academically and in the sports that I have been in with them. During my senior year I started a tutoring group for some of the 7th/8th grades student athletes who were having a hard time balancing school and athletics. I helped them with their homework and helped them with study and organizational tips. All of these things go together and have helped me to remain excited about my planned career path. I can't wait to have my own classroom and make an impact on the kids of whatever Minnesota town I end up teaching in!

I am about to start my 4th year at SMSU. I grew up in Northern Minnesota. When home, I live with my parents and my younger sister. I am the first in my family to attend a university. I enjoy running, basketball, camping, hunting, and hiking. My goal is to become a history teacher and hopefully, a basketball and track/cross country coach. I plan to achieve this by attending Southwest Minnesota State University and pursuing my degree in 5-12 social studies education while having a minor in coaching. While I am attending SMSU I will compete in their track and cross country programs. My hope is that during my time at SMSU I will learn about education, interacting with students, and how to provide the best education that I am able to provide once I graduate and get a job. I was heavily influence by my middle through high school history teacher. He is one of the biggest reasons that I decided to specifically be a history teacher because I have aspirations to be just like him. He influenced me because I witnessed him develop a positive relationship with every single student who walked through the doors of his classroom. Through doing this he was able to create the most positive and engaging classroom that I have ever had the privilege to observe and to be a part of. I experienced this from both sides, as I was lucky enough to sit in his classroom and observe as well as teach a lesson in his classroom through a college class that I took while I was in high school. He taught me both directly and indirectly just how important talking to and understanding my students will be. One of the ways that he did this the most was just by finding common ground with his students, whether that is finding common interests, or even just showing interest in something that he knew nothing about. I was honored to finish at the top of my graduating class. I have been a Varsity level athlete since I was in eighth grade. I am confident that being a 3 sport athlete has helped me learn how to balance life priorities, academics, and athletics. I have always tried to help kids that are younger than me both academically and in the sports that I have been in with them. During my senior year I started a tutoring group for some of the 7th/8th grades student athletes who were having a hard time balancing school and athletics. I helped them with their homework and helped them with study and organizational tips. All of these things go together and have helped me to remain excited about my planned career path. I can't wait to have my own classroom and make an impact on the kids of whatever Minnesota town I end up teaching in!

I am about to start my 4th year at SMSU. I grew up in Northern Minnesota. When home, I live with my parents and my younger sister. I am the first in my family to attend a university. I enjoy running, basketball, camping, hunting, and hiking. My goal is to become a history teacher and hopefully, a basketball and track/cross country coach. I plan to achieve this by attending Southwest Minnesota State University and pursuing my degree in 5-12 social studies education while having a minor in coaching. While I am attending SMSU I will compete in their track and cross country programs. My hope is that during my time at SMSU I will learn about education, interacting with students, and how to provide the best education that I am able to provide once I graduate and get a job. I was heavily influence by my middle through high school history teacher. He is one of the biggest reasons that I decided to specifically be a history teacher because I have aspirations to be just like him. He influenced me because I witnessed him develop a positive relationship with every single student who walked through the doors of his classroom. Through doing this he was able to create the most positive and engaging classroom that I have ever had the privilege to observe and to be a part of. I experienced this from both sides, as I was lucky enough to sit in his classroom and observe as well as teach a lesson in his classroom through a college class that I took while I was in high school. He taught me both directly and indirectly just how important talking to and understanding my students will be. One of the ways that he did this the most was just by finding common ground with his students, whether that is finding common interests, or even just showing interest in something that he knew nothing about. I was honored to finish at the top of my graduating class. I have been a Varsity level athlete since I was in eighth grade. I am confident that being a 3 sport athlete has helped me learn how to balance life priorities, academics, and athletics. I have always tried to help kids that are younger than me both academically and in the sports that I have been in with them. During my senior year I started a tutoring group for some of the 7th/8th grades student athletes who were having a hard time balancing school and athletics. I helped them with their homework and helped them with study and organizational tips. All of these things go together and have helped me to remain excited about my planned career path. I can't wait to have my own classroom and make an impact on the kids of whatever Minnesota town I end up teaching in!

My name is Daniel Olson. I am about to start my 4th year at SMSU. I grew up in Northern Minnesota. When home, I live with my parents and my younger sister. I am the first in my family to attend a university. I enjoy running, basketball, camping, hunting, and hiking. My goal is to become a history teacher and hopefully, a basketball and track/cross country coach. I plan to achieve this by attending Southwest Minnesota State University and pursuing my degree in 5-12 social studies education while having a minor in coaching. While I am attending SMSU I will compete in their track and cross country programs. My hope is that during my time at SMSU I will learn about education, interacting with students, and how to provide the best education that I am able to provide once I graduate and get a job. I really do believe that you can best serve your community by being a part of it and helping those you can. I have always liked helping people, and the way that I have found best suits me is through educating others academically and encouraging them along with educating them through athletics. I love to see kids succeed and feel proud of themselves. I feel like I deserve this scholarship, because I have always worked hard at school and sports. I was honored to finish at the top of my graduating class. I have been a Varsity level athlete since I was in eighth grade. I am confident that being a 3 sport athlete has helped me learn how to balance life priorities, academics, and athletics. I have always tried to help kids that are younger than me both academically and in the sports that I have been in with them. During my senior year I started a tutoring group for some of the 7th/8th grades student athletes who were having a hard time balancing school and athletics. I helped them with their homework and helped them with study and organizational tips. For me, this really helped to confirm the course of study I am planning to take. As a future teacher, I am really hoping to not have a lot of student loan debt once I get into the teaching/coaching field. For this reason, I have worked really hard at applying for as many scholarships as I can. This scholarship would definitely help me to work towards my ultimate goal of zero student loan debt while an undergraduate. I really figure that if I don’t have to worry about paying off that debt, that I will have more time to put into youth coaching when I am out of college.

My name is Daniel Olson. I am about to start my 4th year at SMSU. I grew up in Northern Minnesota. When home, I live with my parents and my younger sister. I am the first in my family to attend a university. I enjoy running, basketball, camping, hunting, and hiking. My goal is to become a history teacher and hopefully, a basketball and track/cross country coach. I plan to achieve this by attending Southwest Minnesota State University and pursuing my degree in 5-12 social studies education while having a minor in coaching. While I am attending SMSU I will compete in their track and cross country programs. My hope is that during my time at SMSU I will learn about education, interacting with students, and how to provide the best education that I am able to provide once I graduate and get a job. I really do believe that you can best serve your community by being a part of it and helping those you can. I have always liked helping people, and the way that I have found best suits me is through educating others academically and encouraging them along with educating them through athletics. I love to see kids succeed and feel proud of themselves. I feel like I deserve this scholarship, because I have always worked hard at school and sports. I was honored to finish at the top of my graduating class. I have been a Varsity level athlete since I was in eighth grade. I am confident that being a 3 sport athlete has helped me learn how to balance life priorities, academics, and athletics. I have always tried to help kids that are younger than me both academically and in the sports that I have been in with them. During my senior year I started a tutoring group for some of the 7th/8th grades student athletes who were having a hard time balancing school and athletics. I helped them with their homework and helped them with study and organizational tips. For me, this really helped to confirm the course of study I am planning to take. As a future teacher, I am really hoping to not have a lot of student loan debt once I get into the teaching/coaching field. For this reason, I have worked really hard at applying for as many scholarships as I can. This scholarship would definitely help me to work towards my ultimate goal of zero student loan debt while an undergraduate. I really figure that if I don’t have to worry about paying off that debt, that I will have more time to put into youth coaching when I am out of college.

My years spent in Nashwauk Keewatin High School have prepared me to pursue my dreams once I graduate in numerous ways. In fact, I could say that I would be nowhere near the person I am today if it weren’t for all of the years I have spent here. First of all, my years in high school have prepared me to be patient. Living in such a small area, you see a lot of the same people every day. Sometimes, these people can begin to get on your nerves, throughout my years I have become much more skilled at keeping my cool and not allowing this to happen. Secondly, it has taught me how to forgive. Again, living in such a small area, there isn’t much room to hold grudges either as you see those people you may be holding them against so often. Next, it has taught me how to use negative events in my life for motivation instead of just feeling sorry for myself. Along with teaching me very important lessons in perseverance and determination. For example, between my Sophomore and Junior years of high school I had an entire track season, a state cross country meet, and a section final for basketball get canceled along with another being severely affected due to the COVID-19 virus. Even with all of these things happening, I continued to work hard and used it all as motivation to be better. Then, I began to watch it all pay off. After the official state cross country meet was canceled, we got word that there would be a sort of makeshift meet that all the teams who qualified for the true state meet would be invited to. Not all the teams went, but we felt there was unfinished business. So we all decided to go as a team and we placed 2nd overall. Though this just left us feeling more eager to win. So, that track season, we sent our 4 by 800 meter relay team to state for the first time in five years and ended up being the second-fastest 4 by 800 relay team in our team history. Then, in the fall of my senior year, we entered the state meet wanting to place top five, and I wanted to receive all-state honors. Once that was done we had placed fourth, 3 points away from third, and one of my best friends and I had both placed in the top 25 and would receive all-state recognition. Not only have my years as a high school student and athlete prepared me to pursue my dreams by teaching me different skills such as patience, being quick to forgive, perseverance, determination, and many more things. They have also taught me to appreciate my time somewhere when I know it’s limited, along with all of the people; because even though I have complained about school and some of the people in it, I know that I am going to miss it. As a future teacher, I am really hoping to not have a lot of student loan debt once I get into the teaching/coaching field. For this reason, I have worked really hard at applying for as many scholarships as I can. This scholarship would definitely help me to work towards my ultimate goal of zero student loan debt while an undergraduate. I really figure that if I don’t have to worry about paying off that debt, that I will have more time to put into youth coaching when I am out of college.

My primary goal in life is to become a highschool social studies teacher and at some point, a highschool basketball and/or track/cross country coach. My hope is to be the best possible teacher and coach that I can be. Along with always trying to improve in those areas and find new ways to be the best version of these things that I can be. I chose this goal for many different reasons. First of all, I have had a lot of different teachers and coaches that have made some very positive impacts on my life. Along with them playing a large attitude in my outlook on life and how I treat other people. These influences have caused me to want to make an impact on my future students and athletes the way that they have on me. I have always had a passion for helping people, and the way that I have found best suits me is through educating others academically and encouraging them along with educating them through athletics. I love to see kids succeed and feel proud of themselves. I plan to achieve this goal by attending Southwest Minnesota State University and pursuing my degree in 5-12 social studies education while having a minor in coaching. From when I was in early elementary school through around my junior year of high school I had always wanted to be a middle school or high school math teacher. Then my junior year during a “college in the schools” math course I had an instructor that made me rethink. I realized that while I do love math, it is a very difficult subject to teach and that maybe math wasn’t the best option for me. This led to me changing my mind to social studies. I have been lucky enough to have had two very great social studies teachers and the more I have taken related courses, the more I have gotten excited about the subject. While I am attending Southwest Minnesota State University I will be running on their track and cross country programs. I chose this college for a few reasons. One being I felt at home the very first time I stepped on campus. The other being the running coach, I feel like he will push me to be a stronger athlete and better person. My hope is that my time at SMSU will better me as a person and I will learn as much as I am able to about education, interacting with students, and how to provide the best education that I am able to provide once I graduate and get a job. I have always tried to help kids that are younger than me both academically and in the sports that I have been in with them. During my senior year I tutored a group of 7th/8th grades student athletes who were having a hard time balancing school and athletics. I helped them with their homework and helped them with study and organizational tips. For me, this really helped to confirm the course of study I am planning to take.

For nearly as long as I can remember, I have wanted to be a teacher. I have had a lot of different teachers and coaches that have made a positive impact on my life. This has made me to want to make an impact on my future students and athletes the way that they have on me. There has been one who has made the biggest impact on each of these is by far Mr. Tucci. While I have had many teachers that have made massive impacts on my plans and goals for doing so, Throughout my years at the high school, I have always considered Mr. Tucci to be one of my favorite teachers. First of all, his style of teaching has always worked well for how my brain learns things. I have always felt like I learned very well along with having fun while I was in his classroom. Second of all, he does very well at making all of his student's opinions equal and not choosing favorites. He always goes out of his way to have conversations with all of the different students in his room. Third, and probably the most significant, over the last two years especially he has been there to help to mentor me. I have shadowed him in his classroom each semester this year, and whether it was while I did this or if I had a question for him outside of that classroom experience he has always been there to answer those questions and to give me his honest opinion. I can already see through my time helping in the classroom that my teaching style will be very similar to his. Lastly, I am very confident that assuming everything goes as planned, once I have my own classroom if I ever need advice or anything of the sort, I will be able to ask Mr. Tucci and he will be more than willing to help. This is something that gives me a sense of security while following my future plans. My primary goal in life is to become a high school social studies teacher and at some point, a highschool basketball and/or track/cross country coach. My hope is to be the best possible teacher and coach that I can be. I have always had a passion for helping people, and the way that I have found best suits me is through educating others academically and encouraging them through athletics. I love to see kids succeed and feel proud of themselves.

For nearly as long as I can remember, I have wanted to be a teacher. I have had a lot of different teachers and coaches that have made a positive impact on my life. This has made me to want to make an impact on my future students and athletes the way that they have on me. There has been one who has made the biggest impact on each of these is by far Mr. Tucci. While I have had many teachers that have made massive impacts on my plans and goals for doing so, Throughout my years at the high school, I have always considered Mr. Tucci to be one of my favorite teachers. First of all, his style of teaching has always worked well for how my brain learns things. I have always felt like I learned very well along with having fun while I was in his classroom. Second of all, he does very well at making all of his student's opinions equal and not choosing favorites. He always goes out of his way to have conversations with all of the different students in his room. Third, and probably the most significant, over the last two years especially he has been there to help to mentor me. I have shadowed him in his classroom each semester this year, and whether it was while I did this or if I had a question for him outside of that classroom experience he has always been there to answer those questions and to give me his honest opinion. I can already see through my time helping in the classroom that my teaching style will be very similar to his. Lastly, I am very confident that assuming everything goes as planned, once I have my own classroom if I ever need advice or anything of the sort, I will be able to ask Mr. Tucci and he will be more than willing to help. This is something that gives me a sense of security while following my future plans. My primary goal in life is to become a high school social studies teacher and at some point, a highschool basketball and/or track/cross country coach. My hope is to be the best possible teacher and coach that I can be. I have always had a passion for helping people, and the way that I have found best suits me is through educating others academically and encouraging them through athletics. I love to see kids succeed and feel proud of themselves.

I really do believe that you can best serve your community by being a part of it and helping those you can. I have always had a passion for helping people, and the way that I have found best suits me is through educating others academically and encouraging them along with educating them through athletics. I love to see kids succeed and feel proud of themselves. I have had so many older students help me along my high school journey both in academics and in sports, that I have tried to pay that forward as I have gotten older. I have tried to be kind and helpful to others around me. It only takes a little effort to make a difference. Serving those around you can come in straight out acts or service, or in just small acts of kindness. (Intentional or accidental) In athletics I have always tried to cheer for and encourage the other athletes. I’d like to share one incident that was totally unintentional. It happened during my Junior year track season. Here is the story as told by a local photographer. “After running their 3200m during an unbelievably hot afternoon, Daniel Olson, who had just run, came in 2nd and got his qualifying place for sections, looked back and said,” did he do it?” He was asking about 8th grader Alex Leete from Mesabi East …of who had just finished and had in fact qualified for sections. He immediately went over to congratulate him.” I didn’t know that she had heard what I said, or that she had captured the moment. I just remember being so excited for the young guy to make it! Fast forward to this past year, my senior year of track. I was able to run at a few meets with this kid, he always goes out of his way to find me to check in. It really can be so rewarding to just think of others and encourage them! I joined track in 6th grade and I had several guys from my own team and others over the years that always celebrated with me and congratulated me when I did well, I just wanted to continue this awesome tradition. I love seeing others succeed when they have been working hard! I had a mom of a teammate tell me after graduation that she was going to miss having me around at games and meets, because I was always so encouraging to others. My senior year of both cross country and track I was really able to put this into action. Being a senior, you have an automatic leadership role and the younger kids look up to you. I made sure that the younger guys all knew that I was there to help them however I could. I have seen how older teammates can either make a positive or negative impact on the younger kids. I work hard to stay out of trouble and model what is good for the younger guys. Some needed someone to talk to, some needed encouragement while running, others simply needed rides home after practice or meets. I hope that they will remember this and carry it on as they get older! I hope in the future I will be able to find more opportunities to help and maybe inspire those around me. I look forward to being a teacher and a youth coach once I am done with college. I think both can be a great way to reach youth and even help out other adults.

My name is Daniel Olson. I am about to start my 3rd year at SMSU. I grew up in Northern Minnesota. When home, I live with my parents and my younger sister. I am the first in my family to attend a university. I enjoy running, basketball, camping, hunting, and hiking. My goal is to become a history teacher and hopefully, a basketball and track/cross country coach. I plan to achieve this by attending Southwest Minnesota State University and pursuing my degree in 5-12 social studies education while having a minor in coaching. While I am attending SMSU I will compete in their track and cross country programs. This fall I was an Orientation Leader on campus for Gold Rush weekend. . My hope is that during my time at SMSU I will learn about education, interacting with students, and how to provide the best education that I am able to provide once I graduate and get a job. I really do believe that you can best serve your community by being a part of it and helping those you can. I have always liked helping people, and the way that I have found best suits me is through educating others academically and encouraging them along with educating them through athletics. I love to see kids succeed and feel proud of themselves. I feel like I deserve this scholarship, because I have always worked hard at school and sports. I was honored to finish at the top of my graduating class. I have been a Varsity level athlete since I was in eighth grade. I am confident that being a 3 sport athlete has helped me learn how to balance life priorities, academics, and athletics. I have always tried to help kids that are younger than me both academically and in the sports that I have been in with them. During my senior year I started a tutoring group for some of the 7th/8th grades student athletes who were having a hard time balancing school and athletics. I helped them with their homework and helped them with study and organizational tips. For me, this really helped to confirm the course of study I am planning to take. As a future teacher, I am really hoping to not have a lot of student loan debt once I get into the teaching/coaching field. For this reason, I have worked really hard at applying for as many scholarships as I can. This scholarship would definitely help me to work towards my ultimate goal of zero student loan debt while an undergraduate. I really figure that if I don’t have to worry about paying off that debt, that I will have more time to put into youth coaching when I am out of college.

Though I myself haven't been a part of a work union yet, both of my parents work in jobs where they have unions. My great grandfather worked in the Minnesota Iron Ore mines and was part of one of the original groups that worked to get a union formed to protect the miners. My dad is a mail carrier for the USPS (United State Postal Service). RIght now his union is in negotiations trying to get them wages that line up with what similar jobs are paying. The UPS recently settled on a new contract that upped their pay by quite a bit. His union is also trying to set up an agreement for better work conditions in regards to their delivery trucks. There is no air conditioning in them, so in the summer it gets pretty unbearable. In contrast, in the winter the heaters in them don’t keep up with the cold weather that we get here in Minnesota. His water bottles have to be set on the heating vent in order to not freeze while he is working! His union tries to give back to the area community. They do an annual food drive for our local food bank. They have also donated to youth organizations in the town that he works in. My mom is a paraprofessional at our local school. They too are in contract negotiations. They are trying to get more stepped wage increases for their employees who have been at the job longer. Right now, there are small raises at the end of your first 3 years, but then nothing more than cost of living raises. They are hoping to add built in raises at 8, 12 and 15 years for long time employees. Another topic that they are looking at is, how to deal with snow/weather days. Right now, if school is canceled because of weather or weather issues, my mom has to either choose to not be paid or use some of her built up personal time. The union is hoping that maybe they can get an exception for a day or two per school year. Last year she had to use 3 ½ days of her personal time to cover weather days. During Covid, the union worked with her school district to ensure that paras had work to do so that they would get paid. Some of their time was spent working with the kids of essential employees, and some of the time was spent meeting with other students over zoom meetings. Her union has been a help to her personally. A few years ago, there was a teacher that was being pretty hard on my mom and also making up lies about her. Her union representative met with her, the principal, and this teacher to get everything situated. It is nice for her having the peace of mind that if there are issues like that, that there is someone to stand beside her and help her. Once I am graduated and have a teaching job, I know that I too will benefit from a labor union. I am glad that I have had parents that have worked in jobs with unions, so that I am a bit familiar with them.

According to former college coach Kate Leavell, “Athletes, who are young and healthy and would likely get a mild version of the virus, have been asked to sacrifice to help slow the spread to save the lives of the compromised population. That’s what teammates do. They make sacrifices to make sure the bigger team thrives.” I am sure we can all vividly remember where we were when our lives were impacted by covid. Not that we had the illness, but the impact COVID had on our social, academic and athletic lives. In Minnesota, I know the GBB state tournament was called off in the middle, BBB never got the chance to compete, and all of those who participate in spring sports didn’t even get the chance. My story begins the year I was in eighth grade, which was the year I first made the 4x800m team. It was me, two freshmen, and a sophomore. That year we qualified for sections. Although we only placed 7th of the 9 teams, the seed was planted, we knew that we eventually wanted to make it to state. The next year we made a big step forward, dropping 10 seconds, medalling, placing 4th that year. We were also the only team in the top 6 to not have any graduating runners, making us a favorite to place top two and go to state the next season. Throughout that summer, and the next school year even in the midst of our other sports, we all continued to discuss and work towards our chances at state that spring. The closer that spring got, the more excited we were. Then, all of the sudden we started hearing about this thing called covid. Before we knew it, the season was postponed though we were told that there was still a chance for a late, shortened season. So as we were stuck at home, we each held each other accountable and kept working. Then one day in late March of 2020, our coach texted us saying “I just got the word… season is officially off, I’m sorry guys.” Holding back tears of anger, frustration, and sadness all in one, before I told a soul I left the house and went for a run. I took off down the road as fast as I could until I had to stop. Then I stood there, hands on my knees, huffing and puffing and still holding back tears. At that moment, I didn’t know who to blame, but I knew that I was angry, I felt like I had put in all that work for nothing, and as though I should maybe just give up. Then, I shook off those thoughts and continued back running. I repeated the process of running until I couldn't a couple of times, eventually circling back home. By the end of my run I wasn’t holding back the tears, but running through them. That day I knew I couldn’t let this affect my love for what I did, and that summer we knew that we couldn’t let this affect us next season, we needed to use it, and we did. Those of us returning held each other and the rest of our teammates accountable all summer and throughout that next school year. That spring of my junior year we qualified for state, and I couldn’t help but think back to all that we’d been through as a team . I know that my teammates and I by no means were the only ones affected by covid, There were numerous other events of all sorts canceled due to the virus. As Victor Mather said in March of 2020, “A day after nearly every major sporting event in the United States has been suspended or canceled because of coronavirus, it became a question of which sports were on, not which were off.” I’m sure that there are many of you whose lives were drastically affected by COVID whether it was through sports, losing family members, or any number of other reasons, it was not an easy time. According to the World Health Organization in March of 2022, “In the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, global prevalence of anxiety and depression increased by a massive 25%”, but this has made each of us stronger within ourselves and for many of us it brought us closer to our family, friends, and our teammates. Overall, even though COVID is less prevalent in our lives today and life appears to be back to “normal”, we are all impacted by daily challenges personally, academically or athletically. Out of the 4 different seasons I was on the 4x800 team, 5 of the 7 different runners that were on the team are currently running in college and at least in large part this is due to each of us holding each other accountable, and making sure we didn’t give up on our goals due to the diversity that we faced. These things that can benefit each and every one of us in our everyday lives. So, always hold each other accountable, and no matter what the situation may be that you are going through, don’t give up just yet. I often think back to myself when I stopped on the side of that road on my run, I could have taken that moment and given up, let it overshadow all of the work I put in, but I picked my head up and kept working, and you should too.

I am a distance runner and those are always my favorite races to cheer for. I think my favorite athlete to cheer for on Team USA, is Cole Hocker. It was great watching him run his race and have a great strong finish to win the 1500m! He tucked back for most of the race and just stayed where he needed to be in order to draft his opponents. When the time was right, he wove his way through the front part of the pack and snuck his way behind Kerr and Ingebritsen. I felt this surge of joy when he basically surprised them and took the lead. His joy in winning was so great to watch. He was also such a great team mate to his US running mates. He made sure to congratulate Nuguse and Kessler. He is a smart runner and let the others talk their big talk while he just planned how he was going to win the race. He trains hard, puts in the work and just concetrates on what he needs to do to improve. Also I appreciate that he doesn't come off as overly confident (AKA Cocky) as some other internationl runners. I cannot wait to watch how he does in the coming years!

My name is Daniel Olson. I am about to start my 3rd year at SMSU. I grew up in Northern Minnesota. When home, I live with my parents and my younger sister. I am the first in my family to attend a university. I enjoy running, basketball, camping, hunting, and hiking. My goal is to become a history teacher and hopefully, a basketball and track/cross country coach. I plan to achieve this by attending Southwest Minnesota State University and pursuing my degree in 5-12 social studies education while having a minor in coaching. While I am attending SMSU I will compete in their track and cross country programs. This fall I was an Orientation Leader on campus for Gold Rush weekend. . My hope is that during my time at SMSU I will learn about education, interacting with students, and how to provide the best education that I am able to provide once I graduate and get a job. I really do believe that you can best serve your community by being a part of it and helping those you can. I have always liked helping people, and the way that I have found best suits me is through educating others academically and encouraging them along with educating them through athletics. I love to see kids succeed and feel proud of themselves. I feel like I deserve this scholarship, because I have always worked hard at school and sports. I was honored to finish at the top of my graduating class. I have been a Varsity level athlete since I was in eighth grade. I am confident that being a 3 sport athlete has helped me learn how to balance life priorities, academics, and athletics. I have always tried to help kids that are younger than me both academically and in the sports that I have been in with them. During my senior year I started a tutoring group for some of the 7th/8th grades student athletes who were having a hard time balancing school and athletics. I helped them with their homework and helped them with study and organizational tips. For me, this really helped to confirm the course of study I am planning to take. As a future teacher, I am really hoping to not have a lot of student loan debt once I get into the teaching/coaching field. For this reason, I have worked really hard at applying for as many scholarships as I can. This scholarship would definitely help me to work towards my ultimate goal of zero student loan debt while an undergraduate. I really figure that if I don’t have to worry about paying off that debt, that I will have more time to put into youth coaching when I am out of college.

While in high school I found it easier to find the time and opportunities to volunteer in and around my community. I knew the adults and kids that lived around me. While I was always in sports and studied hard, I found it fairly easy to find the time to plug in around me. It has been a bit more challenging to find the time to do so while I am in college. My class work, sports practices and schedules are just so full rightt now that I haven't gotten the chance to do much for community service. I have taken on an unofficial role of the guy whole plans and makes team meals the night before we have a race/meet. At first there were only 2-3 guys that would come, but by the end of this school year I had closer to 10 guys showing up. It is a small way to show some caring for those around me. I hope that once I am gone one of the younger guys can carry on the tradition. My goal is to become a history teacher and eventually, a basketball or running coach. I have always had a passion for helping people, and the way that I have found best suits me is through educating others academically and encouraging them through athletics. I love to see kids succeed and feel proud of themselves. In high school, I started a tutoring group for junior high student athletes who were having a hard time balancing school and athletics. I helped them with their homework and helped them with study and organizational tips. For me, this really helped to confirm the course of study I am planning to take. In sports I have always tried to cheer for and encourage the other athletes. My senior year of high school I tried to be intentional about supporting younger runners and basketball players that I was going to school with. I made sure that the younger guys all knew that I wanted to help them however I could. I have seen how how older teammates can either make a positive or negative impact on the younger kids. I work hard to stay out of trouble and show others that it is possible to do well in school and sports. Some needed someone to talk to, some encouragement practicing, others rides home after practice or meets. I hope that they will remember this and carry it on as they get older!

My primary goal in life is to become a high school social studies teacher and a basketball and/or track/cross country coach. My hope is to be the best possible teacher and coach that I can be. I chose this goal for many different reasons. First of all, I have had a lot of different teachers and coaches that have made some very positive impacts on my life. Along with them playing a large attitude in my outlook on life and how I treat other people. These influences have caused me to want to make an impact on my future students and athletes the way that they have on me. I plan to achieve this goal by attending Southwest Minnesota State University and pursuing my degree in 5-12 social studies education. Since I was in early elementary school through around my junior year of high school I had always wanted to be a math teacher. Then my junior year during a “college in the schools” math course I had an instructor that made me rethink. I realized that while I do love math, it is a very difficult subject to teach and that maybe math wasn’t the best option for me. This changed my mind to social studies. I have been lucky enough to have had two great social studies teachers and the more I have taken related courses, the more I have gotten excited about the subject. I am attending Southwest Minnesota State University. My hope is that my time at SMSU will better me as a person and I will learn as much as I am able to about education, interacting with students, and how to provide the best education that I am able to provide once I graduate and get a job. I have always tried to help kids that are younger than me both academically and in the sports that I have been in with them. During my senior year I tutored a group of 7th/8th grades student athletes who were having a hard time balancing school and athletics. I helped them with their homework and helped them with study and organizational tips. For me, this really helped to confirm the course of study I am planning to take. In athletics I have always tried to cheer for and encourage the other athletes. I made sure that the younger guys all knew that I was there to help them however I could. I have seen how older teammates can either make a positive or negative impact on the younger kids. I work hard to stay out of trouble and model what is good for the younger guys. Some needed someone to talk to, some needed encouragement while running, others simply needed rides home after practice or meets. I hope that they will remember this and carry it on as they get older!

I was raised in a small, fairly tight community. I have had so many older students help me along my high school journey both in academics and in sports, that I have tried to pay that forward as I have gotten older. I have tried to be kind and helpful to others around me. It only takes a little effort to make a difference. Serving those around you can come in straight out acts or service, or in just small acts of kindness. (Intentional or accidental) In athletics I have always tried to cheer for and encourage the other athletes. I’d like to share one incident that was totally unintentional. It happened during my Junior year track season. Here is the story as told by a local photographer. “After running their 3200m during an unbelievably hot afternoon, Daniel Olson, who had just run, came in 2nd and got his qualifying place for sections, looked back and said,” did he do it?” He was asking about 8th grader Alex Leete from Mesabi East …of who had just finished and had in fact qualified for sections. He immediately went over to congratulate him.” I didn’t know that she had heard what I said, or that she had captured the moment. I just remember being so excited for the young guy to make it! Fast forward to this past year, my senior year of track. I was able to run at a few meets with this kid, he always goes out of his way to find me to check in. It really can be so rewarding to just think of others and encourage them! I joined track in 6th grade and I had several guys from my own team and others over the years that always celebrated with me and congratulated me when I did well, I just wanted to continue this awesome tradition. I love seeing others succeed when they have been working hard! I had a mom of a teammate tell me after graduation that she was going to miss having me around at games and meets, because I was always so encouraging to others. My senior year of both cross country and track I was really able to put this into action. Being a senior, you have an automatic leadership role and the younger kids look up to you. I made sure that the younger guys all knew that I was there to help them however I could. Some needed someone to talk to, some needed encouragement while running, others simply needed rides home after practice or meets. I hope that they will remember this and carry it on as they get older! During basketball season, I noticed that a few younger kids were really struggling with their grades. After some coordination with my History teacher I started a tutoring group with mostly underclassmen who were in basketball. One day a week I would meet with them to help with homework, study for tests, or just help them get more organized with their school work. It was great to see them working hard and for myself it sort of confirmed my choice in major, being a 5-12 History teacher. I hope in the future I will be able to find more opportunities to help and maybe inspire those around me. I look forward to being a teacher and a youth coach once I am done with college. I think both can be a great way to reach youth and even help out other adults.

I was raised in a small, fairly tight community. I have had so many older students help me along my high school journey both in academics and in sports, that I have tried to pay that forward as I have gotten older. I have tried to be kind and helpful to others around me. It only takes a little effort to make a difference. Serving those around you can come in straight out acts or service, or in just small acts of kindness. (Intentional or accidental) In athletics I have always tried to cheer for and encourage the other athletes. I’d like to share one incident that was totally unintentional. It happened during my Junior year track season. Here is the story as told by a local photographer. “After running their 3200m during an unbelievably hot afternoon, Daniel Olson, who had just run, came in 2nd and got his qualifying place for sections, looked back and said,” did he do it?” He was asking about 8th grader Alex Leete from Mesabi East …of who had just finished and had in fact qualified for sections. He immediately went over to congratulate him.” I didn’t know that she had heard what I said, or that she had captured the moment. I just remember being so excited for the young guy to make it! Fast forward to this past year, my senior year of track. I was able to run at a few meets with this kid, he always goes out of his way to find me to check in. It really can be so rewarding to just think of others and encourage them! My senior year of both cross country and track I was really able to put this into action. Being a senior, you have an automatic leadership role and the younger kids look up to you. I made sure that the younger guys all knew that I was there to help them however I could. I have seen how older teammates can either make a positive or negative impact on the younger kids. I work hard to stay out of trouble and model what is good for the younger guys. Some needed someone to talk to, some needed encouragement while running, others simply needed rides home after practice or meets. I hope that they will remember this and carry it on as they get older! During basketball season, I noticed that a few younger kids were really struggling with their grades. I talked with my mom and we agreed that it would be easy for me to help them out. So, after some coordination with my History teacher I started a tutoring group with mostly underclassmen who were in basketball. One day a week I would meet with them to help with homework, study for tests, or just help them get more organized with their school work. It was great to see them working hard and for myself it sort of confirmed my choice in major, being a 5-12 History teacher. I hope in the future I will be able to find more opportunities to help and maybe inspire those around me. I look forward to being a teacher and a youth coach once I am done with college. I think both can be a great way to reach youth and even help out other adults.

My primary goal in life is to become a high school social studies teacher and at some point, a highschool basketball and/or track/cross country coach. My hope is to be the best possible teacher and coach that I can be. I chose this goal for many different reasons. First of all, I have had a lot of different teachers and coaches that have made some very positive impacts on my life. Along with them playing a large attitude in my outlook on life and how I treat other people. These influences have caused me to want to make an impact on my future students and athletes the way that they have on me. I plan to achieve this goal by attending Southwest Minnesota State University and pursuing my degree in 5-12 social studies education while having a minor in coaching. From when I was in early elementary school through around my junior year of high school I had always wanted to be a middle school or high school math teacher. Then my junior year during a “college in the schools” math course I had an instructor that made me rethink. I realized that while I do love math, it is a very difficult subject to teach and that maybe math wasn’t the best option for me. This led to me changing my mind to social studies. I have been lucky enough to have had two very great social studies teachers and the more I have taken related courses, the more I have gotten excited about the subject. While I am attending Southwest Minnesota State University I will be running on their track and cross country programs. I chose this college for a few reasons. One being I felt at home the very first time I stepped on campus. The other being the running coach, I feel like he will push me to be a stronger athlete and better person. My hope is that my time at SMSU will better me as a person and I will learn as much as I am able to about education, interacting with students, and how to provide the best education that I am able to provide once I graduate and get a job. I have always tried to help kids that are younger than me both academically and in the sports that I have been in with them. During my senior year I tutored a group of 7th/8th grades student athletes who were having a hard time balancing school and athletics. I helped them with their homework and helped them with study and organizational tips. For me, this really helped to confirm the course of study I am planning to take. In athletics I have always tried to cheer for and encourage the other athletes. This season in both cross country and track I was really able to put this into action. Being a senior, you have an automatic leadership role and the younger kids look up to you. I made sure that the younger guys all knew that I was there to help them however I could. I have seen how older teammates can either make a positive or negative impact on the younger kids. I work hard to stay out of trouble and model what is good for the younger guys. Some needed someone to talk to, some needed encouragement while running, others simply needed rides home after practice or meets. I hope that they will remember this and carry it on as they get older!

My primary goal in life is to become a high school social studies teacher and at some point, a highschool basketball and/or track/cross country coach. My hope is to be the best possible teacher and coach that I can be. I chose this goal for many different reasons. First of all, I have had a lot of different teachers and coaches that have made some very positive impacts on my life. Along with them playing a large attitude in my outlook on life and how I treat other people. These influences have caused me to want to make an impact on my future students and athletes the way that they have on me. I plan to achieve this goal by attending Southwest Minnesota State University and pursuing my degree in 5-12 social studies education while having a minor in coaching. From when I was in early elementary school through around my junior year of high school I had always wanted to be a middle school or high school math teacher. Then my junior year during a “college in the schools” math course I had an instructor that made me rethink. I realized that while I do love math, it is a very difficult subject to teach and that maybe math wasn’t the best option for me. This led to me changing my mind to social studies. I have been lucky enough to have had two very great social studies teachers and the more I have taken related courses, the more I have gotten excited about the subject. While I am attending Southwest Minnesota State University I will be running on their track and cross country programs. I chose this college for a few reasons. One being I felt at home the very first time I stepped on campus. The other being the running coach, I feel like he will push me to be a stronger athlete and better person. My hope is that my time at SMSU will better me as a person and I will learn as much as I am able to about education, interacting with students, and how to provide the best education that I am able to provide once I graduate and get a job. I have always tried to help kids that are younger than me both academically and in the sports that I have been in with them. During my senior year I tutored a group of 7th/8th grades student athletes who were having a hard time balancing school and athletics. I helped them with their homework and helped them with study and organizational tips. For me, this really helped to confirm the course of study I am planning to take. In athletics I have always tried to cheer for and encourage the other athletes. This season in both cross country and track I was really able to put this into action. Being a senior, you have an automatic leadership role and the younger kids look up to you. I made sure that the younger guys all knew that I was there to help them however I could. I have seen how older teammates can either make a positive or negative impact on the younger kids. I work hard to stay out of trouble and model what is good for the younger guys. Some needed someone to talk to, some needed encouragement while running, others simply needed rides home after practice or meets. I hope that they will remember this and carry it on as they get older!

My name is Daniel Olson. I am about to start my 3rd year at SMSU. I grew up in Northern Minnesota. When home, I live with my parents and my younger sister. I am the first in my family to attend a university. I enjoy running, basketball, camping, hunting, and hiking. My goal is to become a history teacher and hopefully, a basketball and track/cross country coach. I plan to achieve this by attending Southwest Minnesota State University and pursuing my degree in 5-12 social studies education while having a minor in coaching. While I am attending SMSU I will compete in their track and cross country programs. This fall I was an Orientation Leader on campus for Gold Rush weekend. . My hope is that during my time at SMSU I will learn about education, interacting with students, and how to provide the best education that I am able to provide once I graduate and get a job. I really do believe that you can best serve your community by being a part of it and helping those you can. I have always liked helping people, and the way that I have found best suits me is through educating others academically and encouraging them along with educating them through athletics. I love to see kids succeed and feel proud of themselves. I feel like I deserve this scholarship, because I have always worked hard at school and sports. I was honored to finish at the top of my graduating class. I have been a Varsity level athlete since I was in eighth grade. I am confident that being a 3 sport athlete has helped me learn how to balance life priorities, academics, and athletics. I have always tried to help kids that are younger than me both academically and in the sports that I have been in with them. During my senior year I started a tutoring group for some of the 7th/8th grades student athletes who were having a hard time balancing school and athletics. I helped them with their homework and helped them with study and organizational tips. For me, this really helped to confirm the course of study I am planning to take. As a future teacher, I am really hoping to not have a lot of student loan debt once I get into the teaching/coaching field. For this reason, I have worked really hard at applying for as many scholarships as I can. This scholarship would definitely help me to work towards my ultimate goal of zero student loan debt while an undergraduate. I really figure that if I don’t have to worry about paying off that debt, that I will have more time to put into youth coaching when I am out of college.

My primary goal in life is to become a highschool social studies teacher and at some point, a highschool basketball and/or track/cross country coach. My hope is to be the best possible teacher and coach that I can be. Along with always trying to improve in those areas and find new ways to be the best version of these things that I can be. I chose this goal for many different reasons. First of all, I have had a lot of different teachers and coaches that have made some very positive impacts on my life. Along with them playing a large attitude in my outlook on life and how I treat other people. These influences have caused me to want to make an impact on my future students and athletes the way that they have on me. I have always had a passion for helping people, and the way that I have found best suits me is through educating others academically and encouraging them along with educating them through athletics. I love to see kids succeed and feel proud of themselves. During my senior year I started a tutoring group for some of the 7th/8th grades student athletes who were having a hard time balancing school and athletics. I helped them with their homework and helped them with study and organizational tips. For me, this really helped to confirm the course of study I am planning to take. In athletics I have always tried to cheer for and encourage the other athletes. This season in both cross country and track I was really able to put this into action. Being a senior, you have an automatic leadership role and the younger kids look up to you. I made sure that the younger guys all knew that I was there to help them however I could. I have seen both ways how older teammates can either make a positive or negative impact on the younger kids. I work hard to stay out of trouble and model what is good for the younger guys. Some needed someone to talk to, some needed encouragement while running, others simply needed rides home after practice or meets. I hope that they will remember this and carry it on as they get older! As a future teacher, I am really hoping to not have a lot of student loan debt once I get into the teaching/coaching field. For this reason, I have worked really hard at applying for as many scholarships as I can. This scholarship would definitely help me to work towards my ultimate goal of zero student loan debt while an undergraduate. I really figure that if I don’t have to worry about paying off that debt, that I will have more time to put into youth coaching when I am out of college.

My primary goal in life is to become a highschool social studies teacher and at some point, a highschool basketball and/or track/cross country coach. My hope is to be the best possible teacher and coach that I can be. Along with always trying to improve in those areas and find new ways to be the best version of these things that I can be. I chose this goal for many different reasons. First of all, I have had a lot of different teachers and coaches that have made some very positive impacts on my life. Along with them playing a large attitude in my outlook on life and how I treat other people. These influences have caused me to want to make an impact on my future students and athletes the way that they have on me. I have always had a passion for helping people, and the way that I have found best suits me is through educating others academically and encouraging them along with educating them through athletics. I love to see kids succeed and feel proud of themselves. During my senior year I started a tutoring group for some of the 7th/8th grades student athletes who were having a hard time balancing school and athletics. I helped them with their homework and helped them with study and organizational tips. For me, this really helped to confirm the course of study I am planning to take. In athletics I have always tried to cheer for and encourage the other athletes. This season in both cross country and track I was really able to put this into action. Being a senior, you have an automatic leadership role and the younger kids look up to you. I made sure that the younger guys all knew that I was there to help them however I could. I have seen both ways how older teammates can either make a positive or negative impact on the younger kids. I work hard to stay out of trouble and model what is good for the younger guys. Some needed someone to talk to, some needed encouragement while running, others simply needed rides home after practice or meets. I hope that they will remember this and carry it on as they get older! Looking towards next year, I am nervous and excited that my younger sister will be coming to the same collge that I am already attending and running on the team with me. She and I have always been close. We were on the same cross country and track teams all through high school. It is definately going to be fun having her back on the same team as me again!

My primary goal in life is to become a highschool social studies teacher and at some point, a highschool basketball and/or track/cross country coach. My hope is to be the best possible teacher and coach that I can be. Along with always trying to improve in those areas and find new ways to be the best version of these things that I can be. I chose this goal for many different reasons. First of all, I have had a lot of different teachers and coaches that have made some very positive impacts on my life. Along with them playing a large attitude in my outlook on life and how I treat other people. These influences have caused me to want to make an impact on my future students and athletes the way that they have on me. I have always had a passion for helping people, and the way that I have found best suits me is through educating others academically and encouraging them along with educating them through athletics. I love to see kids succeed and feel proud of themselves. During my senior year I started a tutoring group for some of the 7th/8th grades student athletes who were having a hard time balancing school and athletics. I helped them with their homework and helped them with study and organizational tips. For me, this really helped to confirm the course of study I am planning to take. I am excited that now in my second year at college, I have found opportunities to help other student. I was an orientation leader at the begining of the school year. I got to help new students learn about campus and lead some activities. I also recently started to give campus tours to prospective students. I am glad to have the chance to connect with new students! In athletics I have always tried to cheer for and encourage the other athletes. This season in both cross country and track I was really able to put this into action. Being a senior, you have an automatic leadership role and the younger kids look up to you. I made sure that the younger guys all knew that I was there to help them however I could. I have seen both ways how older teammates can either make a positive or negative impact on the younger kids. I work hard to stay out of trouble and model what is good for the younger guys. Some needed someone to talk to, some needed encouragement while running, others simply needed rides home after practice or meets. I hope that they will remember this and carry it on as they get older!

My primary goal in life is to become a highschool social studies teacher and at some point, a highschool basketball and/or track/cross country coach. My hope is to be the best possible teacher and coach that I can be. Along with always trying to improve in those areas and find new ways to be the best version of these things that I can be. I chose this goal for many different reasons. First of all, I have had a lot of different teachers and coaches that have made some very positive impacts on my life. Along with them playing a large attitude in my outlook on life and how I treat other people. These influences have caused me to want to make an impact on my future students and athletes the way that they have on me. I have always had a passion for helping people, and the way that I have found best suits me is through educating others academically and encouraging them along with educating them through athletics. I love to see kids succeed and feel proud of themselves. During my senior year I started a tutoring group for some of the 7th/8th grades student athletes who were having a hard time balancing school and athletics. I helped them with their homework and helped them with study and organizational tips. For me, this really helped to confirm the course of study I am planning to take. In athletics I have always tried to cheer for and encourage the other athletes. This season in both cross country and track I was really able to put this into action. Being a senior, you have an automatic leadership role and the younger kids look up to you. I made sure that the younger guys all knew that I was there to help them however I could. I have seen both ways how older teammates can either make a positive or negative impact on the younger kids. I work hard to stay out of trouble and model what is good for the younger guys. Some needed someone to talk to, some needed encouragement while running, others simply needed rides home after practice or meets. I hope that they will remember this and carry it on as they get older!

My primary goal in life is to become a highschool social studies teacher and at some point, a highschool basketball and/or track/cross country coach. My hope is to be the best possible teacher and coach that I can be. Along with always trying to improve in those areas and find new ways to be the best version of these things that I can be. I chose this goal for many different reasons. First of all, I have had a lot of different teachers and coaches that have made some very positive impacts on my life. Along with them playing a large attitude in my outlook on life and how I treat other people. These influences have caused me to want to make an impact on my future students and athletes the way that they have on me. I have always had a passion for helping people, and the way that I have found best suits me is through educating others academically and encouraging them along with educating them through athletics. I love to see kids succeed and feel proud of themselves. During my senior year I started a tutoring group for some of the 7th/8th grades student athletes who were having a hard time balancing school and athletics. I helped them with their homework and helped them with study and organizational tips. For me, this really helped to confirm the course of study I am planning to take. In athletics I have always tried to cheer for and encourage the other athletes. This season in both cross country and track I was really able to put this into action. Being a senior, you have an automatic leadership role and the younger kids look up to you. I made sure that the younger guys all knew that I was there to help them however I could. I have seen both ways how older teammates can either make a positive or negative impact on the younger kids. I work hard to stay out of trouble and model what is good for the younger guys. Some needed someone to talk to, some needed encouragement while running, others simply needed rides home after practice or meets. I hope that they will remember this and carry it on as they get older! As a future teacher, I am really hoping to not have a lot of student loan debt once I get into the teaching/coaching field. For this reason, I have worked really hard at applying for as many scholarships as I can. This scholarship would definitely help me to work towards my ultimate goal of zero student loan debt while an undergraduate. I really figure that if I don’t have to worry about paying off that debt, that I will have more time to put into youth coaching when I am out of college.

My name is Daniel Olson. I will be starting my second year at SMSU. I grew up in Northern Minnesota. When home, I live with my parents and my younger sister. I am the first in my family to attend a university. I enjoy running, basketball, camping, hunting, and hiking. My goal is to become a history teacher and hopefully, a basketball and track/cross country coach. I plan to achieve this by attending Southwest Minnesota State University and pursuing my degree in 5-12 social studies education while having a minor in coaching. While I am attending SMSU I will compete in their track and cross country programs. My hope is that during my time at SMSU I will learn about education, interacting with students, and how to provide the best education that I am able to provide once I graduate and get a job. I really do believe that you can best serve your community by being a part of it and helping those you can. I have always liked helping people, and the way that I have found best suits me is through educating others academically and encouraging them along with educating them through athletics. I love to see kids succeed and feel proud of themselves. I feel like I deserve this scholarship because I have always worked hard at school and sports. I was honored to finish at the top of my graduating class. I have been a Varsity level athlete since I was in eighth grade. I am confident that being a 3 sport athlete has helped me learn how to balance life priorities, academics, and athletics. I have always tried to help kids that are younger than me both academically and in the sports that I have been in with them. During my senior year I started a tutoring group for some of the 7th/8th grades student athletes who were having a hard time balancing school and athletics. I helped them with their homework and helped them with study and organizational tips. For me, this really helped to confirm the course of study I am planning to take. As a future teacher, I am really hoping to not have a lot of student loan debt once I get into the teaching/coaching field. For this reason, I have worked hard at applying for as many scholarships as I can. This scholarship would definitely help me to work towards my ultimate goal of zero student loan debt while an undergraduate. I figure that if I don’t have to worry about paying off that debt, that I will have more time to put into youth coaching when I am out of college.

Daniel Olson Dreams and Impact I really do believe that you can best serve your community by being a part of it and helping those you can. I have always had a passion for helping people, and the way that I have found best suits me is through educating others academically and encouraging them along with educating them through athletics. I love to see kids succeed and feel proud of themselves. From when I was in early elementary school through around my junior year of high school I had always wanted to be a middle school or high school math teacher. Then my junior year during a “college in the schools” math course I had an instructor that made me rethink. I realized that while I do love math, it is a very difficult subject to teach and that maybe math wasn’t the best option for me. This led to me changing my mind to social studies. I have been lucky enough to have had two very great social studies teachers and the more I have taken related courses, the more I have gotten excited about the subject. While I am attending Southwest Minnesota State University I will be running on their track and cross country programs. I chose this college for a few reasons. One being I felt at home the very first time I stepped on campus. The other is the running coach, I feel like he will push me to be a stronger athlete and better person. I hope that my time at SMSU will better me as a person and I will learn as much as I can about education, interacting with students, and how to provide the best education that I can provide once I graduate and get a job. I have always tried to help kids that are younger than me both academically and in the sports that I have been in with them. During my senior year, I tutored a group of 7th/8th grades student-athletes who were having a hard time balancing school and athletics. I helped them with their homework and helped them with study and organizational tips. For me, this helped to confirm the course of study I am planning to take. In athletics, I have always tried to cheer for and encourage other athletes. This season in both cross country and track I was really able to put this into action. Being a senior, you have an automatic leadership role and the younger kids look up to you. I made sure that the younger guys all knew that I was there to help them however I could. I have seen how older teammates can either make a positive or negative impact on the younger kids. I work hard to stay out of trouble and model what is good for the younger guys. Some needed someone to talk to, some needed encouragement while running, others simply needed rides home after practice or meets. I hope that they will remember this and carry it on as they get older!

I was raised in a small, fairly tight community. Though from watching the news and reading what is going on in the world, I know that the idea of community has changed over the years. I also know that in a small area things don’t change as quickly. I have connections with lots of age groups and community groups. Since I am just fresh out of high school my strongest understanding of the importance of community is through school and sports. I have had so many older students help me along my high school journey both in academics and in sports, that I have tried to pay that forward as I have gotten older. I have tried to be kind and helpful to others around me. It only takes a little effort to make a difference. Serving those around you can come in straight out acts or service, or in just small acts of kindness. (Intentional or accidental) The act of sportsmanship that I’d like to share was one that was totally unintentional. It happened during my Junior year track season. Here is the story as told by a local photographer. “After running their 3200m during an unbelievably hot afternoon, Daniel Olson, who had just run, came in 2nd and got his qualifying place for sections, looked back and said,” did he do it?” He was asking about 8th grader Alex Leete from Mesabi East …of who had just finished and had in fact qualified for sections. He immediately went over to congratulate him.” I didn’t know that she had heard what I said, or that she had captured the moment. I just remember being so excited for the young guy to make it! Fast forward to this past year, my senior year of track. I was able to run at a few meets with this kid, he always goes out of his way to find me to check in. It really can be so rewarding to just think of others and encourage them! I joined track in 6th grade and I had several guys from my own team and others over the years that always celebrated with me and congratulated me when I did well, I just wanted to continue this awesome tradition. I love seeing others succeed when they have been working hard! I had a mom of a teammate tell me after graduation that she was going to miss having me around at games and meets, because I was always so encouraging to others. During the winter of my senior year I noticed that a few younger kids were really struggling with their grades. I talked with my mom and we agreed that it would be easy for me to help them out. So, after some coordination with my History teacher I started a tutoring group with mostly underclassmen who were in basketball. One day a week I would meet with them to help with homework, study for tests, or just help them get more organized with their school work. It was great to see them working hard and for myself it sort of confirmed my choice in major, being a 5-12 History teacher. I hope in the future I will be able to find more opportunities to help those around me. I look forward to being a teacher and a youth coach once I am done with college. I think both can be a great way to reach youth and even help out other adults.

I was raised in a small, fairly tight community. Though from watching the news and reading what is going on in the world, I know that the idea of community has changed over the years. I also know that in a small area things don’t change as quickly. I have connections with lots of age groups and community groups. Since I am just fresh out of high school my strongest understanding of the importance of community is through school and sports. I have had so many older students help me along my high school journey both in academics and in sports, that I have tried to pay that forward as I have gotten older. I have tried to be kind and helpful to others around me. It only takes a little effort to make a difference. Serving those around you can come in straight out acts or service, or in just small acts of kindness. (Intentional or accidental) The act of sportsmanship that I’d like to share was one that was totally unintentional. It happened during my Junior year track season. Here is the story as told by a local photographer. “After running their 3200m during an unbelievably hot afternoon, Daniel Olson, who had just run, came in 2nd and got his qualifying place for sections, looked back and said,” did he do it?” He was asking about 8th grader Alex Leete from Mesabi East …of who had just finished and had in fact qualified for sections. He immediately went over to congratulate him.” I didn’t know that she had heard what I said, or that she had captured the moment. I just remember being so excited for the young guy to make it! Fast forward to this past year, my senior year of track. I was able to run at a few meets with this kid, he always goes out of his way to find me to check in. It really can be so rewarding to just think of others and encourage them! I joined track in 6th grade and I had several guys from my own team and others over the years that always celebrated with me and congratulated me when I did well, I just wanted to continue this awesome tradition. I love seeing others succeed when they have been working hard! I had a mom of a teammate tell me after graduation that she was going to miss having me around at games and meets, because I was always so encouraging to others. During the winter of my senior year I noticed that a few younger kids were really struggling with their grades. I talked with my mom and we agreed that it would be easy for me to help them out. So, after some coordination with my History teacher I started a tutoring group with mostly underclassmen who were in basketball. One day a week I would meet with them to help with homework, study for tests, or just help them get more organized with their school work. It was great to see them working hard and for myself it sort of confirmed my choice in major, being a 5-12 History teacher. I hope in the future I will be able to find more opportunities to help those around me. I look forward to being a teacher and a youth coach once I am done with college. I think both can be a great way to reach youth and even help out other adults.

My name is Daniel Olson. I will be starting my second year at SMSU. I grew up in Northern Minnesota. When home, I live with my parents and my younger sister. I am the first in my family to attend a university. I enjoy running, basketball, camping, hunting, and hiking. My goal is to become a history teacher and hopefully, a basketball and track/cross country coach. I plan to achieve this by attending Southwest Minnesota State University and pursuing my degree in 5-12 social studies education while having a minor in coaching. While I am attending SMSU I will compete in their track and cross country programs. My hope is that during my time at SMSU I will learn about education, interacting with students, and how to provide the best education that I am able to provide once I graduate and get a job. I really do believe that you can best serve your community by being a part of it and helping those you can. I have always liked helping people, and the way that I have found best suits me is through educating others academically and encouraging them along with educating them through athletics. I love to see kids succeed and feel proud of themselves. I feel like I deserve this scholarship, because I have always worked hard at school and sports. I was honored to finish at the top of my graduating class. I have been a Varsity level athlete since I was in eighth grade. I am confident that being a 3 sport athlete has helped me learn how to balance life priorities, academics, and athletics. I have always tried to help kids that are younger than me both academically and in the sports that I have been in with them. During my senior year I started a tutoring group for some of the 7th/8th grades student athletes who were having a hard time balancing school and athletics. I helped them with their homework and helped them with study and organizational tips. For me, this really helped to confirm the course of study I am planning to take. As a future teacher, I am really hoping to not have a lot of student loan debt once I get into the teaching/coaching field. For this reason, I have worked really hard at applying for as many scholarships as I can. This scholarship would definitely help me to work towards my ultimate goal of zero student loan debt while an undergraduate. I really figure that if I don’t have to worry about paying off that debt, that I will have more time to put into youth coaching when I am out of college.

My name is Daniel Olson. I just finished my first year at SMSU. I grew up in Northern Minnesota. When home, I live with my parents and my younger sister. I am the first in my family to attend a university. I enjoy running, basketball, camping, hunting, and hiking. My goal is to become a history teacher and hopefully, a basketball and track/cross country coach. I plan to achieve this by attending Southwest Minnesota State University and pursuing my degree in 5-12 social studies education while having a minor in coaching. While I am attending SMSU I will compete in their track and cross country programs. My hope is that during my time at SMSU I will learn about education, interacting with students, and how to provide the best education that I am able to provide once I graduate and get a job. I really do believe that you can best serve your community by being a part of it and helping those you can. I have always liked helping people, and the way that I have found best suits me is through educating others academically and encouraging them along with educating them through athletics. I love to see kids succeed and feel proud of themselves. I feel like I deserve this scholarship, because I have always worked hard at school and sports. I was honored to finish at the top of my graduating class. I have been a Varsity level athlete since I was in eighth grade. I am confident that being a 3 sport athlete has helped me learn how to balance life priorities, academics, and athletics. I have always tried to help kids that are younger than me both academically and in the sports that I have been in with them. During my senior year I started a tutoring group for some of the 7th/8th grades student athletes who were having a hard time balancing school and athletics. I helped them with their homework and helped them with study and organizational tips. For me, this really helped to confirm the course of study I am planning to take. As a future teacher, I am really hoping to not have a lot of student loan debt once I get into the teaching/coaching field. For this reason, I have worked really hard at applying for as many scholarships as I can. This scholarship would definitely help me to work towards my ultimate goal of zero student loan debt while an undergraduate. I really figure that if I don’t have to worry about paying off that debt, that I will have more time to put into youth coaching when I am out of college.

I want to become teacher and coach, so I can impact kids in a great way!

My primary goal in life is to become a high school social studies teacher and at some point, a highschool basketball and/or track/cross country coach. My hope is to be the best possible teacher and coach that I can be. I chose this goal for many different reasons. First of all, I have had a lot of different teachers and coaches that have made some very positive impacts on my life. Along with them playing a large attitude in my outlook on life and how I treat other people. These influences have caused me to want to make an impact on my future students and athletes the way that they have on me. I have always tried to help kids that are younger than me both academically and in the sports that I have been in with them. During my senior year, I tutored a group of 7th/8th grade student-athletes who were having a hard time balancing school and athletics. I helped them with their homework and helped them with study and organizational tips. For me, this helped to confirm the course of study I am planning to take. In athletics, I have always tried to cheer for and encourage other athletes. This season in both cross country and track I was able to put this into action. Being a senior, you have an automatic leadership role and the younger kids look up to you. I made sure that the younger guys all knew that I was there to help them however I could. I have seen how older teammates can either make a positive or negative impact on the younger kids. I work hard to stay out of trouble and model what is good for the younger guys. Some needed someone to talk to, some needed encouragement while running, and others simply needed rides home after practice or meets. I hope that they will remember this and carry it on as they get older! As a future teacher, I am really hoping to not have a lot of student loan debt once I get into the teaching/coaching field. For this reason, I have worked really hard at applying for as many scholarships as I can. This scholarship would definitely help me to work towards my ultimate goal of zero student loan debt while an undergraduate. I really figure that if I don’t have to worry about paying off that debt, that I will have more time to put into youth coaching when I am out of college.

I was raised in a small, fairly tight community. Though from watching the news and reading what is going on in the world, I know that the idea of community has changed over the years. I also know that in a small area things don’t change as quickly. I have connections with lots of age groups and community groups. Since I am just fresh out of high school my strongest understanding of the importance of community is through school and sports. I have had so many older students help me along my high school journey both in academics and in sports, that I have tried to pay that forward as I have gotten older. I have tried to be kind and helpful to others around me. It only takes a little effort to make a difference. Serving those around you can come in straight out acts or service, or in just small acts of kindness. (Intentional or accidental) The act of sportsmanship that I’d like to share was one that was totally unintentional. It happened during my Junior year track season. Here is the story as told by a local photographer. “After running their 3200m during an unbelievably hot afternoon, Daniel Olson, who had just run, came in 2nd and got his qualifying place for sections, looked back and said,” did he do it?” He was asking about 8th grader Alex Leete from Mesabi East …of who had just finished and had in fact qualified for sections. He immediately went over to congratulate him.” I didn’t know that she had heard what I said, or that she had captured the moment. I just remember being so excited for the young guy to make it! Fast forward to this past year, my senior year of track. I was able to run at a few meets with this kid, he always goes out of his way to find me to check in. It really can be so rewarding to just think of others and encourage them! I joined track in 6th grade and I had several guys from my own team and others over the years that always celebrated with me and congratulated me when I did well, I just wanted to continue this awesome tradition. I love seeing others succeed when they have been working hard! I had a mom of a teammate tell me after graduation that she was going to miss having me around at games and meets, because I was always so encouraging to others. During the winter of my senior year I noticed that a few younger kids were really struggling with their grades. I talked with my mom and we agreed that it would be easy for me to help them out. So, after some coordination with my History teacher I started a tutoring group with mostly underclassmen who were in basketball. One day a week I would meet with them to help with homework, study for tests, or just help them get more organized with their school work. It was great to see them working hard and for myself it sort of confirmed my choice in major, being a 5-12 History teacher. I hope in the future I will be able to find more opportunities to help those around me. I look forward to being a teacher and a youth coach once I am done with college. I think both can be a great way to reach youth and even help out other adults.

On your mark… get set… GO! Does anyone who hasn’t raced really understand? Running has been an important part of my life since I was about 10 years old. I went with my family to watch a family friend run one of his first 5k races.The atmosphere at race sign-in and registry got me excited. I watched people of all ages jogging around and warming up. My competitive drive started to kick in and I asked if I could please run. My mom did not think that I could compete in the full 5k, so she signed me up for the little kid race. I got a taste for it and was pretty much hooked from then on. Later that summer, I was able to compete in my first summer 5k. There are multiple running stories that I could talk about, but there is one specifically that sticks out the most to me, that I am the proudest of getting all-state honors in cross country my senior year. While I joined track in the spring of my 6th-grade year, it wasn’t until I began running cross country in 7th grade and heard my coach, talking about one of the senior girls placi ng top 25 and being “all-state” the year before, I knew it was something I wanted to accomplish as a runner. There was one kid on our boys' team who was just one year older than me. He was able to get all-state honors every year at state. I got an up-close experience in watching the work he put in and all of the praise he got. This motivated me that much more to work towards my goal. Each year, I got closer to that top 25 that I worked so hard for. In 8th grade, I placed 138th, nowhere near my goal, but I had plenty of time left I told myself. Each year I got a higher individual place than the last: 9th grade I was 118th place, 10th grade, I made the jump to 97th. Unfortunately, in March of 2020 Covid shut down the in-person school and ended the 2020 track season. While we did get to have a running season in the fall of 2020, it was far from normal. We were limited to only having 3 teams per meet, or to running them in flights and combining results. While we were happy to get to compete, it was not the season we had hoped for. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a normal state meet due to covid. My senior year finally came. We had a long legacy of strong Titan teams to live up to. The young boys stepped up and the team made it to state for the 7th year in a row. We went into the state meet ranked 14th. We were ecstatic when we managed to get the highest team finish of any GNK Titan team. We managed to get 4th place, and we were only behind the 3rd place team by a few points. I was thrilled to get 23rd place. This meant I had reached my goal of making it as an All-State runner. It was one of the best feelings I’ve ever had as an athlete. I plan to become a high school History teacher and hope to coach as well. With me, I will carry memories of teammates that have inspired me, a taste of what it feels like to work hard at your goals and accomplish them, and continued love for a sport that will give you back everything that you put into it.

My name is Daniel Olson. I am in the middle of my first year at SMSU. I grew up in Northern Minnesota. When home, I live with my parents and my younger sister. I enjoy running, basketball, camping, hunting, and hiking. My goal in to become a history teacher and hopefully, a basketball and track/cross country coach. I plan to achieve this by attending Southwest Minnesota State University and pursuing my degree in 5-12 social studies education while having a minor in coaching. While I am attending SMSU I will compete in their track and cross country programs. I joined track in 6th grade and I had several guys from my own team and others over the years that always celebrated with me and congratulated me when I did well, I just wanted to continue this awesome tradition. I love seeing others succeed when they have been working hard! I had a mom of a teammate tell me after graduation that she was going to miss having me around at games and meets, because I was always so encouraging to others. My senior year of both cross country and track I was really able to put this into action. Being a senior, you have an automatic leadership role and the younger kids look up to you. I made sure that the younger guys all knew that I was there to help them however I could. I have seen how older teammates can either make a positive or negative impact on the younger kids. I work hard to stay out of trouble and model what is good for the younger guys. Some needed someone to talk to, some needed encouragement while running, others simply needed rides home after practice or meets. I hope that they will remember this and carry it on as they get older! During basketball season, I noticed that a few younger kids were really struggling with their grades. I talked with my mom and we agreed that it would be easy for me to help them out. So, after some coordination with my History teacher I started a tutoring group with mostly underclassmen who were in basketball. One day a week I would meet with them to help with homework, study for tests, or just help them get more organized with their school work. It was great to see them working hard and for myself it sort of confirmed my choice in major, being a 5-12 History teacher. I hope in the future I will be able to find more opportunities to help and maybe inspire those around me. I look forward to being a teacher and a youth coach once I am done with college. I think both can be a great way to reach youth and even help out other adults. My hope is that during my time at SMSU I will learn about education, interacting with students, and how to provide the best education that I am able to provide once I graduate and get a job. I really do believe that you can best serve your community by being a part of it and helping those you can. I have always liked helping people, and the way that I have found best suits me is through educating others academically and encouraging them along with educating them through athletics. I love to see kids succeed and feel proud of themselves.

My primary goal in life is to become a high school social studies teacher and a high school basketball and track/cross country coach. I chose this for many different reasons. First of all, I have had a lot of different teachers and coaches that have made some very positive impacts on my life. Along with them play a large attitude in my outlook on life and how I treat other people. These influences led me to want to make an impact on future students and athletes in the way that they have on me. I've always had a passion for helping people. I love to see kids succeed and feel proud of themselves. While I am attending Southwest Minnesota State University I will be running on their track and cross country programs. I chose this college for a few reasons. One being I felt at home the very first time I stepped on campus. The other being the running coach, I feel like he will push me to be a stronger athlete and better person. I hope that my time at SMSU will better me as a person and I will learn as much as I can about education, interacting with students, and how to provide the best education that I can provide once I graduate and get a job. I feel like I deserve this scholarship because I have always worked hard at school and sports. I was honored to finish at the top of my graduating class. I have been a Varsity level athlete since I was in eighth grade. I am confident that being a 3 sport athlete has helped me learn how to balance life priorities, academics, and athletics. I have always tried to help kids that are younger than me both academically and in the sports that I have been in with them. During my senior year I started a tutoring group for some of the 7th/8th grades student-athletes who were having a hard time balancing school and athletics. I helped them with their homework and helped them with study and organizational tips. For me, this helped to confirm the course of study I am planning to take. In athletics I have always tried to cheer for and encourage the other athletes. I made sure that the younger guys all knew that I was there to help them however I could. I have seen both ways how older teammates can either make a positive or negative impact on the younger kids. I work hard to stay out of trouble and model what is good for the younger guys. Some needed someone to talk to, some needed encouragement while running, and others simply needed rides home after practice or meet. I hope that they will remember this and carry it on as they get older!

For nearly as long as I can remember, I have wanted to be a teacher. First, it was to be a math teacher, and then due to a combination of circumstances, I now am planning to be a history teacher. While I have had many teachers that have made massive impacts on my plans and goals for doing so, there has been one who has made the biggest impact on each of these by far Mr. Tucci. Throughout my years in high school, I had always considered Mr. Pat Tucci to be one of my favorite teachers. First of all, his style of teaching has always worked well for how my brain learns things. I have always felt like I learned very well along with having fun while I was in his classroom. Second of all, he does very well at making all of his student's opinions equal and not choosing favorites. He always goes out of his way to have conversations with all of the different students in his room. Third, and probably the most significant, over the last two years of high school especially he was there to help to mentor me. I shadowed him in his classroom each semester of my senior year, and whether it was while I did this or if I had a question for him outside of that classroom experience he has always been there to answer those questions and to give me his honest opinion. I can already see through my time helping in the classroom that my teaching style will be very similar to his. Lastly, I am very confident that assuming everything goes as planned, once I have my classroom if I ever need advice or anything of the sort, I will be able to ask Mr. Tucci and he will be more than willing to help. This is something that gives me a sense of security while following my future plans. I hope to be the best possible teacher that I can be. Mr. Tucci's influence has caused me to want to make an impact on my future students the way that he did for me. I have always had a passion for helping people, and the way that I have found best suits me is through educating others academically and encouraging them along with educating them through athletics. I love to see kids succeed and feel proud of themselves.

My primary goal in life is to become a social studies teacher and a basketball and/or track/cross country coach. I hope to be the best possible teacher and coach that I can be. Along with always trying to improve in those areas and find new ways to improve. I chose this goal for many different reasons. First of all, I have had a lot of different teachers and coaches that have made some very positive impacts on my life. Along with them play a large attitude in my outlook on life and how I treat other people. These influences have caused me to want to make an impact on my future students and athletes the way that they have on me. I have always had a passion for helping people, and the way that I have found best suits me is through educating others academically and encouraging them along with educating them through athletics. I love to see kids succeed and feel proud of themselves. I am attending Southwest Minnesota State University. I chose this college for a few reasons. One being I felt at home the very first time I stepped on campus. The other is the running coach, I feel like he will push me to be a stronger athlete and better person. My hope is that during my college years I am able to learn about education, interact with students, and how to provide the best education that I am able to provide once I graduate and get a job. I was honored to finish at the top of my high school graduating class. I have been a Varsity level athlete since I was in eighth grade. I am confident that being a 3 sport athlete has helped me learn how to balance life priorities, academics, and athletics. I have always tried to help kids that are younger than me both academically and in the sports that I have been in with them. During my senior year, I started a tutoring group for student-athletes who were having a hard time balancing school and athletics. I helped with homework and helped them with study and organizational tips. For me, this really helped to confirm the course of study I am planning to take. In sports, I have always tried to cheer for and encourage the other athletes. In both cross country and track I was really able to put this into action. I made sure that the younger guys all knew that I was there to help them however I could. I have seen both ways how older teammates can either make a positive or negative impact on the younger kids. Some needed someone to talk to, some needed encouragement while running, others simply needed rides home after practice or meets. I hope that they will remember this and carry it on as they get older! As a future teacher, I hope to not have much student loan debt once I get into the teaching/coaching field. This scholarship would definitely help me to work towards my ultimate goal of zero student loan debt while an undergraduate. If I don’t have to worry about paying off that debt, I will have more time to put into youth coaching when I am out of college.

My primary goal in life is to become a high school social studies teacher and a basketball and/or track/cross country coach. I hope to be the best possible teacher and coach that I can be. Along with always trying to improve in those areas and find new ways to improve. I chose this goal for many different reasons. First of all, I have had a lot of different teachers and coaches that have made some very positive impacts on my life. Along with them play a large attitude in my outlook on life and how I treat other people. These influences have caused me to want to make an impact on my future students and athletes the way that they have on me. I have always had a passion for helping people, and the way that I have found best suits me is through educating others academically and encouraging them along with educating them through athletics. I love to see kids succeed and feel proud of themselves. I am attending Southwest Minnesota State University. I chose this college for a few reasons. One being I felt at home the very first time I stepped on campus. The other is the running coach, I feel like he will push me to be a stronger athlete and better person. I hope that during my college years, I can learn about education, interact with students, and how provide the best education that I can provide once I graduate and get a job. I was honored to finish at the top of my high school graduating class. I have been a Varsity level athlete since I was in eighth grade. I am confident that being a 3 sport athlete has helped me learn how to balance life priorities, academics, and athletics. I have always tried to help kids that are younger than me both academically and in the sports that I have been in with them. During my senior year, I started a tutoring group for student-athletes who were having a hard time balancing school and athletics. I helped with homework and helped them with study and organizational tips. For me, this helped to confirm the course of study I am planning to take. In sports, I have always tried to cheer for and encourage the other athletes. In both cross country and track I was able to put this into action. I made sure that the younger guys all knew that I was there to help them however I could. I have seen both ways how older teammates can either make a positive or negative impact on the younger kids. Some needed someone to talk to, some needed encouragement while running, and others simply needed rides home after practice or meet. I hope that they will remember this and carry it on as they get older! As a future teacher, I hope to not have much student loan debt once I get into the teaching/coaching field. This scholarship would help me to work towards my ultimate goal of zero student loan debt while an undergraduate. If I don’t have to worry about paying off that debt, I will have more time to put into youth coaching when I am out of college.

My primary goal in life is to become a high school social studies teacher and a basketball and/or track/cross country coach. I hope to be the best possible teacher and coach that I can be. Along with always trying to improve in those areas and find new ways to improve. I chose this goal for many different reasons. First of all, I have had a lot of different teachers and coaches that have made some very positive impacts on my life. Along with them play a large attitude in my outlook on life and how I treat other people. These influences have caused me to want to make an impact on my future students and athletes in the way that they have on me. I have always had a passion for helping people, and the way that I have found best suits me is through educating others academically and encouraging them along with educating them through athletics. I love to see kids succeed and feel proud of themselves. I am attending Southwest Minnesota State University. I chose this college for a few reasons. One being I felt at home the very first time I stepped on campus. The other is the running coach, I feel like he will push me to be a stronger athlete and better person. I hope that during my college years, I can learn about education, interact with students, and how provide the best education that I can provide once I graduate and get a job. I was honored to finish at the top of my high school graduating class. I have been a Varsity level athlete since I was in eighth grade. I am confident that being a 3 sport athlete has helped me learn how to balance life priorities, academics, and athletics. I have always tried to help kids that are younger than me both academically and in the sports that I have been in with them. During my senior year, I started a tutoring group for student-athletes who were having a hard time balancing school and athletics. I helped with homework and helped them with study and organizational tips. For me, this helped to confirm the course of study I am planning to take. In sports, I have always tried to cheer for and encourage the other athletes. In both cross country and track I was able to put this into action. I made sure that the younger guys all knew that I was there to help them however I could. I have seen both ways how older teammates can either make a positive or negative impact on the younger kids. Some needed someone to talk to, some needed encouragement while running, and others simply needed rides home after practice or meets. I hope that they will remember this and carry it on as they get older! As a future teacher, I hope to not have much student loan debt once I get into the teaching/coaching field. This scholarship would help me to work towards my ultimate goal of zero student loan debt while an undergraduate. If I don’t have to worry about paying off that debt, I will have more time to put into youth coaching when I am out of college.

I believe that Intro III by NF. I believe this because it describes a story of someone who struggles with a lot of anxiety/ fear and personifies the fear by creating a conversation between themself and the fear. Where eventually they can overcome it by describing through the conversation burying it in their backyard and locking it out of the house. Ever since I first heard the song I have thought that the message it gave was very powerful and inspirational. I have listened to it numerous times and still to this day each time I listen to it I find myself getting goosebumps at the climax of the song just as he "buries" his fears. Overall, this song has a great message for people who may be struggling with something like anxiety about how they can and will get through it. Along with showing them that they aren't the only one struggling, there are others who relate to them and will help them through their problems.

In myself I have tried to look out for those around me and help them scholastically, athletically or even personally if I can. I feel like I have experienced this the most through my athletic opportunities and interactions. I have had so many older students help me along my high school journey both in academics and in sports, that I have tried to pay that forward as I have gotten older. I have tried to be kind and helpful to others around me. It only takes a little effort to make a difference. Serving those around you can come in straight out acts or service, or in just small acts of kindness. (Intentional or accidental) The act of sportsmanship that I’d like to share was one that was totally unintentional. It happened during my Junior year track season. Here is the story as told by a local photographer. “After running their 3200m during an unbelievably hot afternoon, Daniel Olson, who had just run, came in 2nd and got his qualifying place for sections, looked back and said,” did he do it?” He was asking about 8th grader Alex Leete from Mesabi East … who had just finished and had qualified for sections. He immediately went over to congratulate him.” I didn’t know that she had heard what I said, or that she had captured the moment. I just remember being so excited for the young guy to make it! Fast forward to this past year, my senior year of track. I was able to run at a few meets with this kid, he always goes out of his way to find me to check-in. It really can be so rewarding to just think of others and encourage them! I joined track in 6th grade and I had several guys from my team and others over the years that always celebrated with me and congratulated me when I did well, I just wanted to continue this awesome tradition. I love seeing others succeed when they have been working hard! I had a mom of a teammate tell me after graduation that she was going to miss having me around at games and meets because I was always so encouraging to others. During the winter of my senior year, I noticed that a few younger kids were struggling with their grades. I talked with my mom and we agreed that it would be easy for me to help them out. So, after some coordination with my History teacher, I started a tutoring group with mostly underclassmen who were in basketball. One day a week I would meet with them to help with homework, study for tests, or just help them get more organized with their schoolwork. It was great to see them working hard and for myself it sort of confirmed my choice in major, being a 5-12 History teacher. I hope in the future I will be able to find more opportunities to help those around me. I look forward to being a teacher and a youth coach once I am done with college. I think both can be a great way to reach youth and even help out other adults.

My primary goal in life is to become a history teacher and at some point, a basketball and/or track/cross country coach. I am currently a Freshman at Southwest Minnesota State UNiversity working on my Secondary Education/History degree. I hope to be the best possible teacher and coach that I can be. Along with always trying to improve in those areas and find new ways to be the best version of these things that I can be. I chose this goal for many different reasons. First of all, I have had a lot of different teachers and coaches that have made some very positive impacts on my life. Along with them playing a large attitude in my outlook on life and how I treat other people. These influences have caused me to want to make an impact on my future students and athletes the way that they have on me. I have always had a passion for helping people, and the way that I have found best suits me is through educating others academically and encouraging them along with educating them through athletics. I love to see kids succeed and feel proud of themselves. Being a teacher and coach could impact my rural community in many different ways. For one, all rural communities need good teachers. Whether it’s to help educate a less fortunate population, to maintain quality of education, or to help encourage the youth of the community to pursue education and to be creative. All of these things could be very intricate and important pieces in maintaining and/ or improving a rural community. Second, many members of rural communities often choose never to leave their community or many of those that do stick together when they do. Therefore this community always stays the same, and oftentimes no new perspective is brought into the area. In athletics, I have always tried to cheer for and encourage the other athletes. This season in both cross country and track I was able to put this into action. Being a senior, you have an automatic leadership role and the younger kids look up to you. I made sure that the younger guys all knew that I was there to help them however I could. I have seen both ways how older teammates can either make a positive or negative impact on the younger kids. I work hard to stay out of trouble and model what is good for the younger guys. Some needed someone to talk to, some needed encouragement while running, and others simply needed rides home after practice or meets. I hope that they will remember this and carry it on as they get older! As a future teacher, I am hoping to not have a lot of student loan debt once I get into the teaching/coaching field. For this reason, I have worked hard at applying for as many scholarships as I can. This scholarship would help me to work towards my ultimate goal of zero student loan debt while an undergraduate. I figure that if I don’t have to worry about paying off that debt, I will have more time to put into youth coaching when I am out of college.

#1 --Wish Each day I wish, for you to care. I long, and wait to no avail. Though here I sit, in our own bed. To hope, to pray that soon, we’ll mend. As time goes by, I fear the worst. I plead and I beg that you would come back. My hope has faded now, It is nearly gone. Our love is gone This cold, cold day. #2 --I swear I swear, I swear I still hear him panting in the hall, him clicking through the kitchen, him sighing as he lays down for bed. I swear, I swear I still see him just around the corner, his big tail hitting everything it can him rushing up the steps at the sound of food. I swear, I swear I just want one more day, one more hour, even one last minute. I swear, I just want to say one more goodbye.

Importance of Community I was raised in a small, fairly tight community. Though from watching the news and reading what is going on in the world, I know that the idea of community has changed over the years. I also know that in a small area things don’t change as quickly. I have connections with lots of age groups and community groups. Since I am just fresh out of high school my strongest understanding of the importance of community is through school and sports. I have had so many older students help me along my high school journey both in academics and in sports, that I have tried to pay that forward as I have gotten older. I have tried to be kind and helpful to others around me. It only takes a little effort to make a difference. Serving those around you can come in straight out acts or service, or in just small acts of kindness. (Intentional or accidental) The act of sportsmanship that I’d like to share was one that was totally unintentional. It happened during my Junior year track season. Here is the story as told by a local photographer. “After running their 3200m during an unbelievably hot afternoon, Daniel Olson, who had just run, came in 2nd and got his qualifying place for sections, looked back and said,” did he do it?” He was asking about 8th grader Alex Leete from Mesabi East …of who had just finished and had in fact qualified for sections. He immediately went over to congratulate him.” I didn’t know that she had heard what I said, or that she had captured the moment. I just remember being so excited for the young guy to make it! Fast forward to this past year, my senior year of track. I was able to run at a few meets with this kid, he always goes out of his way to find me to check in. It really can be so rewarding to just think of others and encourage them! I joined track in 6th grade and I had several guys from my own team and others over the years that always celebrated with me and congratulated me when I did well, I just wanted to continue this awesome tradition. I love seeing others succeed when they have been working hard! I had a mom of a teammate tell me after graduation that she was going to miss having me around at games and meets, because I was always so encouraging to others. During the winter of my senior year I noticed that a few younger kids were really struggling with their grades. I talked with my mom and we agreed that it would be easy for me to help them out. So, after some coordination with my History teacher I started a tutoring group with mostly underclassmen who were in basketball. One day a week I would meet with them to help with homework, study for tests, or just help them get more organized with their school work. It was great to see them working hard and for myself it sort of confirmed my choice in major, being a 5-12 History teacher. I hope in the future I will be able to find more opportunities to help those around me. I look forward to being a teacher and a youth coach once I am done with college. I think both can be a great way to reach youth and even help out other adults.

I was raised in a small, fairly tight community. Though from watching the news and reading what is going on in the world, I know that the idea of community has changed over the years. I also know that in a small area things don’t change as quickly. I have connections with lots of age groups and community groups. Since I am just fresh out of high school my strongest understanding of the importance of community is through school and sports. I have had so many older students help me along my high school journey both in academics and in sports, that I have tried to pay that forward as I have gotten older. I have tried to be kind and helpful to others around me. It only takes a little effort to make a difference. Serving those around you can come in straight out acts or service, or in just small acts of kindness. (Intentional or accidental) I joined track in 6th grade and I had several guys from my own team and others over the years that always celebrated with me and congratulated me when I did well, I just wanted to continue this awesome tradition. I love seeing others succeed when they have been working hard! I had a mom of a teammate tell me after graduation that she was going to miss having me around at games and meets, because I was always so encouraging to others. During the winter of my senior year I noticed that a few younger kids were really struggling with their grades. I talked with my mom and we agreed that it would be easy for me to help them out. So, after some coordination with my History teacher I started a tutoring group with mostly underclassmen who were in basketball. One day a week I would meet with them to help with homework, study for tests, or just help them get more organized with their school work. It was great to see them working hard and for myself it sort of confirmed my choice in major, being a 5-12 History teacher. I hope in the future I will be able to find more opportunities to help those around me. I look forward to being a teacher and a youth coach once I am done with college. I think both can be a great way to reach youth and even help out other adults. This scholarship would help me in my quest to have as little student load debt as possible when I finish my college degree.

I was raised in a small, fairly tight community. Though from watching the news and reading what is going on in the world, I know that the idea of community has changed over the years. I also know that in a small area things don’t change as quickly. I have connections with lots of age groups and community groups. Since I am just fresh out of high school my strongest understanding of the importance of community is through school and sports. I have had so many older students help me along my high school journey both in academics and in sports, that I have tried to pay that forward as I have gotten older. I have tried to be kind and helpful to others around me. It only takes a little effort to make a difference. Serving those around you can come in straight out acts or service, or in just small acts of kindness. (Intentional or accidental) The act of sportsmanship that I’d like to share was one that was totally unintentional. It happened during my Junior year track season. Here is the story as told by a local photographer. “After running their 3200m during an unbelievably hot afternoon, Daniel Olson, who had just run, came in 2nd and got his qualifying place for sections, looked back and said,” did he do it?” He was asking about 8th grader Alex Leete from Mesabi East …of who had just finished and had in fact qualified for sections. He immediately went over to congratulate him.” I didn’t know that she had heard what I said, or that she had captured the moment. I just remember being so excited for the young guy to make it! Fast forward to this past year, my senior year of track. I was able to run at a few meets with this kid, he always goes out of his way to find me to check-in. It really can be so rewarding to just think of others and encourage them! I joined track in 6th grade and I had several guys from my own team and others over the years that always celebrated with me and congratulated me when I did well, I just wanted to continue this awesome tradition. I love seeing others succeed when they have been working hard! I had a mom of a teammate tell me after graduation that she was going to miss having me around at games and meets because I was always so encouraging to others. During the winter of my senior year, I noticed that a few younger kids were really struggling with their grades. I talked with my mom and we agreed that it would be easy for me to help them out. So, after some coordination with my History teacher, I started a tutoring group with mostly underclassmen who were in basketball. One day a week I would meet with them to help with homework, study for tests, or just help them get more organized with their schoolwork. It was great to see them working hard and for myself it sort of confirmed my choice in major, being a 5-12 History teacher. I hope in the future I will be able to find more opportunities to help those around me. I look forward to being a teacher and a youth coach once I am done with college. I think both can be a great way to reach youth and even help out other adults.

My primary goal in life is to become a high school social studies teacher and at some point, a high school basketball and/or track/cross country coach. My hope is to be the best possible teacher and coach that I can be. I chose this goal for many different reasons. First of all, I have had a lot of different teachers and coaches that have made some very positive impacts on my life. Along with them playing a large attitude in my outlook on life and how I treat other people. These influences have caused me to want to make an impact on my future students and athletes the way that they have on me. I really do believe that you can best serve your community by being a part of it and helping those you can. I have always had a passion for helping people, and the way that I have found best suits me is through educating others academically and encouraging them along with educating them through athletics. I love to see kids succeed and feel proud of themselves. I have always tried to help kids that are younger than me both academically and in the sports that I have been in with them. During my senior year I tutored a group of 7th/8th grades student athletes who were having a hard time balancing school and athletics. I helped them with their homework and helped them with study and organizational tips. I also made sure that they knew I would be there for them if they even just needed someone to talk over their problems with. For me, this really helped to confirm the course of study I am planning to take. In athletics I have always tried to cheer for and encourage the other athletes. During my senior year of high school in both cross country and track I was really able to put this into action. Being an upperclassman, you have an automatic leadership role and the younger kids look up to you. I made sure that the younger guys all knew that I was there to help them however I could. I have seen how older teammates can either make a positive or negative impact on the younger kids. I work hard to stay out of trouble and model what is good for the younger guys. Some needed someone to talk to, some needed encouragement while running, others simply needed rides home after practice or meets. I hope that they will remember this and carry it on as they get older!

Meet people! Get organized! Don't fall behind. The best advice I would give new students would be to meet new people, both students and teachers. Also, get organized: A notebook and folder for each class will help you stay on top of announcements and assignments. That then leads to the other important part, which is to not let yourself fall behind, it is hard to catch back up!

Growing up we have always had at least one dog in the family. This has impacted who I am in more ways than I’m sure I even know. First of all, I have learned that though cliche, a dog really is a mans best friend. Whether I’ve got other people who I am close to or the times I felt as though I maybe didn’t have that many close friends, my dog(s) have always been there by my side whenever I need them to be. They always seem to have such a positive attitude and that makes it hard to not have a smile on my face when I am around them. This has helped me to do my best to keep a positive outlook as often as I can, as it seems like they nearly always do. Next, while yes they do make very a positive in those way, when they were all puppies they’ve definitely taught me how to be more patient, and that getting angry doesn’t always work. Sometimes when they’re misbegaving you have to calmly redirect them, not just yell at them and assume that they are going to understand. This was something I was able to institute in many different aspects of my life. For example, I have been a captain in three different sports and president of my NHS and Student Council, and in these roles I have been able to use this experience to stay patient and calmly help/ suggest things to others without being angry and/ or rude. Lastly, they have always been there next to me when I just need a hug or anything like that. I remember when I was younger my dog and I would just follow each other around the house all day and do virtually everything together. Then at the end of the day the two of us would lay on the couch together and watch TV. Overall, I can say with certainty that I would not be who I am today without my dogs by my side nearly every day of my life. They have taught me so many different things both about myself and lessons about every day life. I will always be grateful for all of the time that I have had with them and I am looking forward to giving my kids a similar experience with dogs and/ or pets in general in the future.

My primary goal in life is to become a high school social studies teacher and at some point, a high school basketball and/or track/cross country coach. My hope is to be the best possible teacher and coach that I can be. Along with always trying to improve in those areas and find new ways to be the best version of these things that I can be. I plan to achieve this goal by attending Southwest Minnesota State University and pursuing my degree in 5-12 social studies education while having a minor in coaching. From when I was in early elementary school through around my junior year of high school I had always wanted to be a middle school or high school math teacher. Then my junior year during a “college in the schools” math course I had an instructor that made me rethink. I realized that while I do love math, it is a very difficult subject to teach and that maybe math wasn’t the best option for me. This led to me changing my mind to social studies. I have been lucky enough to have had two very great social studies teachers and the more I have taken related courses, the more I have gotten excited about the subject. I have really been encouraged by some great teachers to keep working on my education even once I am done with my teaching degree. While I am attending Southwest Minnesota State University I will be running on their track and cross country programs. I chose this college for a few reasons. One being I felt at home the very first time I stepped on campus. The other being the running coach, I feel like he will push me to be a stronger athlete and better person. My hope is that my time at SMSU will better me as a person and I will learn as much as I am able to about education, interacting with students, and how to provide the best education that I am able to provide once I graduate and get a job. I have always tried to help kids that are younger than me both academically and in the sports that I have been in with them. During my senior year I tutored a group of 7th/8th grades student athletes who were having a hard time balancing school and athletics. I helped them with their homework and helped them with study and organizational tips. For me, this really helped to confirm the course of study I am planning to take.

I would like to see people just willing to help out others in their community. This could be as a mentor. This could be lending a hand when you see someone struggling. I feel like I have experienced and advanced the spirit of giving most through my athletic opportunities and interactions. I have had so many older students help me along my high school journey both in academics and in sports, that I have tried to pay that forward as I have gotten older. I have tried to be kind and helpful to others around me. It only takes a little effort to make a difference. Serving those around you can come in straight out acts or service, or in just small acts of kindness. (Intentional or accidental) The act of sportsmanship that I’d like to share was one that was totally unintentional. It happened during my Junior year track season. Here is the story as told by a local photographer. “After running their 3200m during an unbelievably hot afternoon, Daniel Olson, who had just run, came in 2nd and got his qualifying place for sections, looked back and said,” did he do it?” He was asking about 8th grader Alex Leete from Mesabi East …of who had just finished and had in fact qualified for sections. He immediately went over to congratulate him.” I didn’t know that she had heard what I said, or that she had captured the moment. I just remember being so excited for the young guy to make it! Fast forward to this past year, my senior year of track. I was able to run at a few meets with this kid, he always goes out of his way to find me to check in. It really can be so rewarding to just think of others and encourage them! I joined track in 6th grade and I had several guys from my own team and others over the years that always celebrated with me and congratulated me when I did well, I just wanted to continue this awesome tradition. I love seeing others succeed when they have been working hard! I had a mom of a teammate tell me after graduation that she was going to miss having me around at games and meets, because I was always so encouraging to others. During the winter of my senior year I noticed that a few younger kids were really struggling with their grades. I talked with my mom and we agreed that it would be easy for me to help them out. So, after some coordination with my History teacher I started a tutoring group with mostly underclassmen who were in basketball. One day a week I would meet with them to help with homework, study for tests, or just help them get more organized with their school work. It was great to see them working hard and for myself it sort of confirmed my choice in major, being a 5-12 History teacher. I hope in the future I will be able to find more opportunities to help those around me. I look forward to being a teacher and a youth coach once I am done with college. I think both can be a great way to reach youth and even help out other adults.

I feel like I have experienced and advanced the spirit of giving most through my athletic opportunities and interactions. I have had so many older students help me along my high school journey both in academics and in sports, that I have tried to pay that forward as I have gotten older. I have tried to be kind and helpful to others around me. It only takes a little effort to make a difference. Serving those around you can come in straight out acts or service, or in just small acts of kindness. (Intentional or accidental) The act of sportsmanship that I’d like to share was one that was totally unintentional. It happened during my Junior year track season. Here is the story as told by a local photographer. “After running their 3200m during an unbelievably hot afternoon, Daniel Olson, who had just run, came in 2nd and got his qualifying place for sections, looked back and said,” did he do it?” He was asking about 8th grader Alex Leete from Mesabi East …of who had just finished and had in fact qualified for sections. He immediately went over to congratulate him.” I didn’t know that she had heard what I said, or that she had captured the moment. I just remember being so excited for the young guy to make it! Fast forward to this past year, my senior year of track. I was able to run at a few meets with this kid, he always goes out of his way to find me to check in. It really can be so rewarding to just think of others and encourage them! I joined track in 6th grade and I had several guys from my own team and others over the years that always celebrated with me and congratulated me when I did well, I just wanted to continue this awesome tradition. I love seeing others succeed when they have been working hard! I had a mom of a teammate tell me after graduation that she was going to miss having me around at games and meets, because I was always so encouraging to others. During the winter of my senior year I noticed that a few younger kids were really struggling with their grades. I talked with my mom and we agreed that it would be easy for me to help them out. So, after some coordination with my History teacher I started a tutoring group with mostly underclassmen who were in basketball. One day a week I would meet with them to help with homework, study for tests, or just help them get more organized with their school work. It was great to see them working hard and for myself it sort of confirmed my choice in major, being a 5-12 History teacher. I hope in the future I will be able to find more opportunities to help those around me. I look forward to being a teacher and a youth coach once I am done with college. I think both can be a great way to reach youth and even help out other adults.

My primary goal in life is to become a high school social studies teacher and at some point, a high school basketball and/or track/cross country coach. My hope is to be the best possible teacher and coach that I can be. Along with always trying to improve in those areas and find new ways to be the best version of these things that I can be. I chose this goal for many different reasons. First of all, I have had a lot of different teachers and coaches that have made some very positive impacts on my life. Along with them playing a large attitude in my outlook on life and how I treat other people. These influences have caused me to want to make an impact on my future students and athletes the way that they have on me. I have always had a passion for helping people, and the way that I have found best suits me is through educating others academically and encouraging them along with educating them through athletics. I love to see kids succeed and feel proud of themselves. In athletics I have always tried to cheer for and encourage the other athletes. This season in both cross country and track I was really able to put this into action. Being a senior, you have an automatic leadership role and the younger kids look up to you. I made sure that the younger guys all knew that I was there to help them however I could. I have seen both ways how older teammates can either make a positive or negative impact on the younger kids. I work hard to stay out of trouble and model what is good for the younger guys. Some needed someone to talk to, some needed encouragement while running, others simply needed rides home after practice or meets. I hope that they will remember this and carry it on as they get older! 5 Traits: 1- Strong leadership and communication skills - I was a captain/leader of all of my sports and clubs in school. I tried to talk to and include all members of my teams. 2- Resilient - I get that I am young, but I really feel like Covid pushed me to be resilient. Online learning and forced shut down of my sports and activities made me have to push through hard situations. 3- Unselfish - I try to think of how I can work through life helping my friends and family. 4- Focused/determined - Running has been an important part of my life since I was about 10 years old. There are multiple running stories that I could talk about, but there is one specifically that sticks out the most to me, that I am the proudest of: getting all-state honors in cross country my senior year. 5- Strong work ethic - Through my dedication and hard work in high school and running, I am excited to say that I was offered a spot on a college Cross Country/Track program. I plan to continue to work hard and see what I can acomplish as an athlete and student.

Prior to the pause in the world that Covid-19 caused, I hadn't really given much thought to the impact of mental health issues. I think that it triggered problems for many people. The one that really sticks out to me is the a suicide attempt by a childhood friend of mine. She was always a driven, happy, hardworking girl. It was an extreme shock to me and my family when we got word that she had attempted suicide by taking excess pills. In the weeks and months that followed, we learned that she had been diagnosed with Bipolar disorder. It has been difficult watching someone that I care about struggle. When she is in her low, it is hard to connect with her, because she feels/experience emotions on a very flat plane. When she is in her higher episodes, we have to try and calm her and talk her down from big ideas. She was able to head of and successfully finish her freshman year of college. Some times it is hard to think of who she was before her change peaked. We love her just the same, but our relationship is different just because we don't connect on the same level. I now find myself looking at most people differently and wondering if there is something under the surface. I also try to pay attention to my own thoughts and reactions to things more closely.

My primary goal in life is to become a social studies teacher and at some point, a basketball and/or track/cross country coach. My hope is to be the best possible teacher and coach that I can be. Along with always trying to improve in those areas and find new ways to be the best version of these things that I can be. Being a teacher and coach could impact my rural community in many different ways. For one, all rural communities are in need of good teachers. Whether it’s to help educate a less fortunate population, to maintain quality of education, or to help encourage the youth of the community to pursue education and to be creative. All of these things could be very intricate and important pieces in maintaining and/ or improving a rural community. Second, many members of rural communities often choose never to leave their community or many of those that do stick together when they do. Therefore this community always stays the same, and oftentimes no new perspective is brought into the area. For comparison, if some were to leave and come back with fresh perspectives this could make a very positive impact on the community and its members. Such as technological things that are found that could help the locals, or new ideas for ways to run things that make different pieces of the community move much more efficiently. Lastly, having good teachers makes being a part of the rural community more desirable. This could lead to a population increase, which could lead to new perspectives and more similar advancements to what I’ve previously discussed. I plan to achieve this goal by attending Southwest Minnesota State University and pursuing my degree in 5-12 social studies education while having a minor in coaching. From when I was in early elementary school through around my junior year of high school I had always wanted to be a middle school or high school math teacher. Then my junior year during a “college in the schools” math course I had an instructor that made me rethink. I realized that while I do love math, it is a very difficult subject to teach and that maybe math wasn’t the best option for me. This led to me changing my mind to social studies. I have been lucky enough to have had two very great social studies teachers and the more I have taken related courses, the more I have gotten excited about the subject. As a future teacher, I am really hoping to not have a lot of student loan debt once I get into the teaching/coaching field. For this reason, I have worked really hard at applying for as many scholarships as I can. This scholarship would definitely help me to work towards my ultimate goal of zero student loan debt while an undergraduate. I really figure that if I don’t have to worry about paying off that debt, that I will have more time to put into youth coaching when I am out of college.

"Daniel, go sit in the hallway. You are disrupting class again." This was a common prompt when I was in 1st grade. I was always done with my school work, but then couldn't stop moving and talking. My teacher wasn't amused. Fortunately, most of my other teachers I had found was to keep me occupied once my work was done, so that others could focus. This was common place all the way through elementary school. Though I was never formally diagnosed, we are pretty sure I have ADHD. We asked our family doctor about it and she agreed that it was likely. She said she could look further into if we wanted, but we saw no need. She thought we had come up with some great tools and they we were handling it well. Once I was in high school and could start participating in sports year round, I didn't seem to have this trouble and more. I was in about 10th grade when I told my mom that I knew that without sports, that I wouldn't be able to focus and do as well in my classes. I was able to learn and understand what I needed to do to burn off my excited, nervous, extra energy. I continued to study and work hard and was able to finish as the top student in my graduating class. For as long as I can remember I have wanted to be a teacher of some sort. I plan to become a high school social studies teacher and eventually a coach of basketball and/or running. I was really impacted by some great teachers and some even better coaches. I hope that I can reach the next generation of student athletes. I tutored some younger kids during my senior year, so that they could get their grades up and be able to participate in basketball. This really confirmed my choice of going into teaching. Not only have my years as a high school student and athlete prepared me to pursue my dreams by teaching me different skills such as patience, being quick to forgive, perseverance, determination, and many more things. They have also taught me that everyone needs to be taught the tools to help them succeed. I feel I am a good candidate for this scholarship, because I am proof that anyone can reach their dreams, even with learning disabilities. I hope to really help kids learn to overcome whatever challenges are in front of them.

Be Bold, Be Brave. I work hard to avoid doing the things that many of my classmates do. It is not easy to be excluded from everything because of my choices. I still work hard to be kind to everyone, even if I don't agree with all of the life choices that they are making. I choose to believe that staying away from drugs and drinking will benefit me in the long run. I am not against having a drink when I am old enough and it is legal, I just struggle that so many of my peers feel like it is the way to be cool and have fun. It has been easier to just not attend social functions than to be teased or pressured into trying or doing things that would put my athletic career at risk. I will stay in touch with my classmates, and hope that they will see that I made a good choice, especially when it hasn't always been easy.

Growing up we have always had at least one dog in the family. This has impacted who I am in more ways than I’m sure I even know. First of all, I have learned that though cliche, a dog really is a mans best friend. Whether I’ve got other people who I am close to or the times I felt as though I maybe didn’t have that many close friends, my dog(s) have always been there by my side whenever I need them to be. They always seem to have such a positive attitude and that makes it hard to not have a smile on my face when I am around them. This has helped me to do my best to keep a positive outlook as often as I can, as it seems like they nearly always do. Next, while yes they do make very a positive in those way, when they were all puppies they’ve definitely taught me how to be more patient, and that getting angry doesn’t always work. Sometimes when they’re misbehaving you have to calmly redirect them, not just yell at them and assume that they are going to understand. This was something I was able to institute in many different aspects of my life. For example, I have been a captain in three different sports and president of my NHS and Student Council, and in these roles I have been able to use this experience to stay patient and calmly help/ suggest things to others without being angry and/ or rude. Lastly, they have always been there next to me when I just need a hug or anything like that. I remember when I was younger my dog and I would just follow each other around the house all day and do virtually everything together. Then at the end of the day the two of us would lay on the couch together and watch TV. Overall, I can say with certainty that I would not be who I am today without my dogs by my side nearly every day of my life. They have taught me so many different things both about myself and lessons about every day life. I will always be grateful for all of the time that I have had with them and I am looking forward to giving my kids a similar experience with dogs and/ or pets in general in the future.

My primary goal in life is to become a highschool social studies teacher and at some point, a highschool basketball and/or track/cross country coach. My hope is to be the best possible teacher and coach that I can be. Along with always trying to improve in those areas and find new ways to be the best version of these things that I can be. I chose this goal for many different reasons. First of all, I have had a lot of different teachers and coaches that have made some very positive impacts on my life. Along with them playing a large attitude in my outlook on life and how I treat other people. These influences have caused me to want to make an impact on my future students and athletes the way that they have on me. I have always had a passion for helping people, and the way that I have found best suits me is through educating others academically and encouraging them along with educating them through athletics. I love to see kids succeed and feel proud of themselves. I plan to achieve this goal by attending Southwest Minnesota State University and pursuing my degree in 5-12 social studies education while having a minor in coaching. While I am attending Southwest Minnesota State University I will be running on their track and cross country programs. I chose this college for a few reasons. One being I felt at home the very first time I stepped on campus. The other being the running coach, I feel like he will push me to be a stronger athlete and better person. My hope is that my time at SMSU will better me as a person and I will learn as much as I am able to about education, interacting with students, and how to provide the best education that I am able to provide once I graduate and get a job. I feel like I deserve this scholarship, because I have always worked hard at school and sports. I was honored to finish at the top of my graduating class. I have been a Varsity level athlete since I was in eighth grade. I am confident that being a 3 sport athlete has helped me learn how to balance life priorities, academics, and athletics. I have always tried to help kids that are younger than me both academically and in the sports that I have been in with them. During my senior year I started a tutoring group for some of the 7th/8th grades student athletes who were having a hard time balancing school and athletics. I helped them with their homework and helped them with study and organizational tips. This really helped to confirm the course of study I am planning to take. In athletics I have always tried to cheer for and encourage the other athletes. In both cross country and track I was really able to put this into action. Being a senior, you have an automatic leadership role and the younger kids look up to you. I made sure that the younger guys all knew that I was there to help them however I could. I have seen both ways how older teammates can either make a positive or negative impact on the younger kids. I work hard to stay out of trouble and model what is good for the younger guys. Some needed someone to talk to, some needed encouragement while running, others simply needed rides home after practice or meets. I hope that they will remember this and carry it on as they get older!

I am getting ready to head off to my first year of college in just over a month. This scholarship will be announced just before I leave. With gas and grocery prices on the rise, I surely use an extra $1000 in my pocket! I have a few upcoming expenses that I would love extra money to pay for right away and be done with: deposit to loft my dorm bed, extra dining dollars for my meal plan, and the books that I will need for first semester. I have been trying really hard to get every little scholarship that I can so that I can hopefully avoid any student loans for my first year of college. If the money would more than cover those initial expenses I would probably put the rest of the money towards the family vacation that i am taking with my parents and my younger sister before I leave for college. We are heading back out to the Badlands and Black Hills of South Dakota to recreate a trip we took when I was younger. It is one of my favorite memories. I am excited to relax and enjoy some time with my family before I begin my next adventure!

Growing up we have always had at least one dog in the family. This has impacted who I am in more ways than I’m sure I even know. First of all, I have learned that though cliche, a dog really is a mans best friend. Whether I’ve got other people who I am close to or the times I felt as though I maybe didn’t have that many close friends, my dog(s) have always been there by my side whenever I need them to be. They always seem to have such a positive attitude and that makes it hard to not have a smile on my face when I am around them. This has helped me to do my best to keep a positive outlook as often as I can, as it seems like they nearly always do. Next, while yes they do make very a positive in those way, when they were all puppies they’ve definitely taught me how to be more patient, and that getting angry doesn’t always work. Sometimes when they’re misbegaving you have to calmly redirect them, not just yell at them and assume that they are going to understand. This was something I was able to institute in many different aspects of my life. For example, I have been a captain in three different sports and president of my NHS and Student Council, and in these roles I have been able to use this experience to stay patient and calmly help/ suggest things to others without being angry and/ or rude. Lastly, they have always been there next to me when I just need a hug or anything like that. I remember when I was younger my dog and I would just follow each other around the house all day and do virtually everything together. Then at the end of the day the two of us would lay on the couch together and watch TV. Overall, I can say with certainty that I would not be who I am today without my dogs by my side nearly every day of my life. They have taught me so many different things both about myself and lessons about every day life. I will always be grateful for all of the time that I have had with them and I am looking forward to giving my kids a similar experience with dogs and/ or pets in general in the future.

Growing up we have always had at least one dog in the family. This has impacted who I am in more ways than I’m sure I even know. First of all, I have learned that though cliche, a dog really is a mans best friend. Whether I’ve got other people who I am close to or the times I felt as though I maybe didn’t have that many close friends, my dog(s) have always been there by my side whenever I need them to be. They always seem to have such a positive attitude and that makes it hard to not have a smile on my face when I am around them. This has helped me to do my best to keep a positive outlook as often as I can, as it seems like they nearly always do. Next, while yes they do make very a positive in those way, when they were all puppies they’ve definitely taught me how to be more patient, and that getting angry doesn’t always work. Sometimes when they’re misbegaving you have to calmly redirect them, not just yell at them and assume that they are going to understand. This was something I was able to institute in many different aspects of my life. For example, I have been a captain in three different sports and president of my NHS and Student Council, and in these roles I have been able to use this experience to stay patient and calmly help/ suggest things to others without being angry and/ or rude. Lastly, they have always been there next to me when I just need a hug or anything like that. I remember when I was younger my dog and I would just follow each other around the house all day and do virtually everything together. Then at the end of the day the two of us would lay on the couch together and watch TV. Overall, I can say with certainty that I would not be who I am today without my dogs by my side nearly every day of my life. They have taught me so many different things both about myself and lessons about every day life. I will always be grateful for all of the time that I have had with them and I am looking forward to giving my kids a similar experience with dogs and/ or pets in general in the future.

I grew up in a really small town in Northern Minnesota. I really feel it is important to be kind to the kids that are younger than you in your community. I was blessed to have a few fantastic mentors when I was in Junior High. They would always talk to me and encourage me in what I was doing. I try to do the same to those younger than me. Positive peer relationships can motivate others to stay out of trouble and to work hard in their school, sports, and helping others in the community. It is sort of a domino effect. Now that I am graduated, I want to keep working hard at going back and connecting to those students who I have past connections with. Hopefully they will in turn continue as they are older to help students younger than they are. I can't wait to see how it all plays out!

It is hard to narrow it down to just one problem facing the world we live in right now. A year ago, I would have likely given a different answer. As of today, I would say rising gas prices and the problems that it is causing. When gas prices are almost double what they were just 3 years ago, it is very difficult to balance out spending. In order to go to school, sports, and work we need to have gasoline. I have some friends who can't find a decent job, because they can't afford the gas to go to the towns where there are jobs to be found. I imagine that the obvious solution is to become less reliant on fossil fuels. This might be easier said than done though. We recently had a power outage that lasted several days. It is difficult to recharge electric cars when there is no electricity. It is also easy to say walk or bike to work, but my family lives 8 miles from the nearest small town so that isn't the best answer for everyone either. People need to car pool, this helps some, but will it really bring down the price of a tank of gasoline? We all need to think about driving more when it necessary and plan shopping trips and other errands so that they are travel less often. I hope that by the time I am heading off to college in the fall that the scary rise in gas costs settles back down.

Too much noise, too much stress, this means it is time for me to decompress. For me relaxing can take a few different forms. First, sometimes I just chill out in my room with white noise in my headphones and turn the lights off. This gives me the chance to slow down my brain and just pray about the day or week. Secondly, there are times that I just need to go for a run. There have been times where I just need to get away from my school work and other things on my to do lists and tying on my running shoes and hitting either a trail or road help clear my head. Finally, there have been more than just a few times that I call a good friend in order to get perspective as to what I am dealing with. I am lucky to have a few friends that are happy to listed and help me work through things. My mom has always encouraged me to take a step back and call my body and brain when I am over loaded or stressed. I have noticed that as I have gotten older I find myself using this advice more and more.

My name is Daniel Olson. I have grown up in a small community in northern Minnesota. I will be graduating in June of 2022 from High School. I am excited to be finising at the top of my graduating class. I am also a runner - Cross Country and Track. I plan on majoring in high school social studies at Southwest Minnesota State University. From when I was in early elementary school through around my junior year of high school I had always wanted to be a middle school or high school math teacher. Then my junior year during a “college in the schools” math course I had an instructor that made me rethink. I realized that while I do love math, it is a very difficult subject to teach. This led to my changing my mind to social studies. As I still really wanted to be a teacher, I just realized that math may have not been the best option for me. This could impact my rural community in many different ways. For one, all rural communities are in need of good teachers. Whether it’s to help educate a less fortunate population, to maintain quality of education, or to help encourage the youth of the community to pursue education and to be creative. All of these things could be very intricate and important pieces in maintaining and/ or improving a rural community. Second, many members of rural communities often choose never to leave their community or many of those that do stick together when they do. Therefore this community always stays the same, and oftentimes no new perspective is brought into the area. For comparison, if some were to leave and come back with fresh perspectives this could make a very positive impact on the community and its members. Such as technological things that are found that could help the locals, or new ideas for ways to run things that make different pieces of the community move much more efficiently. Lastly, having good teachers makes being a part of the rural community more desirable. This could lead to a population increase, which could lead to new perspectives and more similar advancements to what I’ve previously discussed. In closing, good teachers can affect rural communities in many positive ways. Anywhere from advancements in technology to advancements culturally. It is important for all kids to have access to teachers that care about them, big or small communities.

I joined track in 6th grade and I had several guys from my own team and others over the years that always celebrated with me and congratulated me when I did well, I just wanted to continue this awesome tradition. I love seeing others succeed when they have been working hard! I’d like to share was one that was totally unintentional. It happened during my Junior year track season. Here is the story as told by a local photographer. “After running their 3200m during an unbelievably hot afternoon, Daniel Olson, who had just run, came in 2nd and got his qualifying place for sections, looked back and said,” did he do it?” He was asking about 8th grader Alex Leete from Mesabi East …of who had just finished and had in fact qualified for sections. He immediately went over to congratulate him.” I didn’t know that she had heard what I said, or that she had captured the moment. I just remember being so excited for the young guy to make it! I watch some of my other track teammates at meets and it seems that they are so caught up in their own events and stats that they are failing to see all the great things that are going on around them. I guess though that some of those people are the same way off of the track, just so caught up in their own little clique of people that they fail to notice when other kids around them are doing great, and they especially miss it when they are struggling. I hope that after I am out of high school that those who are still in school will remember me as someone who wasn't just so self absorbed that they can't see the people around them. Maybe that is part of why I want to go into teaching and coaching after college. I just really want to be a part of kids journey to be work hard and be proud of themselves. This past week I had a mom from another school stop me at a track meet, she thanked me for always encouraging others at every school. She didn't tell me her name, or what school her own kids was from. Man that meant a lot to me. Not that I am looking for recognition, but it is nice to know that people see the good stuff.

I plan to attend Southwest Minnesota State University and pursue my degree in high school social studies education. Once I complete my degree I plan to spend my teaching career somewhere in Minnesota. Along with this, I plan on coaching, preferably basketball. I decided on this path when I was in elementary school. I decided on teaching because I’ve always had a passion for helping others and found it very rewarding to help my peers with their homework and other things. The teachers and coaches that I have had along the way that have made positive impacts on me and who I am are the biggest inspiration I have to chase this goal. I am from a really small community. The biggest way that drunk driving has impacted my life happened in August of 2019. My mom and I had been heading home early in the afternoon and passed a family friend. Like normal, we waved as we passed and didn't think any more of it. None of us knew that in under 10 minutes from that moment, our lives would be deeply changed. Not long after we heard emergency vehicle sirens. We listened to the local scanner station to see what was happening. It was difficult to piece together what they were chattering about. Then we heard helicopters in our area. Social media was buzzing with bits and pieces of it. Not knowing anything more, we went into town to get a few groceries. On the way, we got news of what was going on. One of my classmates, Lexi, had been out for a walk with her nephew, pushing him in a stroller along the shoulder of the highway on a short 1/2 mile stretch from her grandma's house to the local park. She and her nephew were struck from behind by a drunk driver, we later found out he was also under the influence of several drugs as well. After striking them, he sped off and attempted to hide on a chunk of abandoned property. The helicopters that we heard we searching for him. The family friend we had passed earlier, is Lexi's dad, the grandpa to the little guy. Lexi searched the ditch for her nephew. She carried his little broken body up to the road and yelled until someone from a local house heard her. Lexi was taken by ambulance to a local hospital, and later taken via helicopter to a bigger hospital Her back was shattered, she was close to losing her foot, and her neck was also fractured. She ended up having numerous surgeries. Logan, the nephew, was worked on in the ambulance by local EMS, but it was determined that he died on impact. The other driver is the dad of a few boys that also attend our high school. His terrible decision to drive under the influence has affected so many lives. He is in prison for a variety of charges. His boys have to grow up without their dad. Lexi couldn't attend regular school for over a year. She still has terrible pain all over her body and migraines that are hard to manage. She is finally back to playing Volleyball. Little Logan lost his life. I want to think that everyone who was closely affected by this incident with choose to never drive drunk or under the influence of anything that will alter their abilities or judgment, but sadly I know that isn't likely the case.

I have heard a lot of people tell me that it is important to not spend more than you have. This is the big reason that I have worked so hard this year and finding and applying to as many scholarships as I can find and I am eligible for. I really hope to get out of college with very little student loan debt. Once I get a job out of college I I plan to build up my savings and emergency fund. Some of my peers have asked me why I am putting in so much effort. Instead of working on scholarship applications over Easter break, there was a whole group of them that went to Florida for spring break. It is my hope that when awards day comes around at my high school, I will have a long list of scholarships and it is my guess that many of them will just be sitting there confused by it.

This school year I was able to take some introduction to teaching classes. For part of the semester, I was able to be a teacher assistant in a 7th/8th-grade history class. I enjoyed getting to know the students and helping them during class. once basketball season began, there were quite a few of the kids from my class joined. I began to realize that they were struggling to balance their school work with being in a sport. I came up with the idea of offering some afterschool help before practice. I worked out the details with my advisor, and from December-February I was able to work with anywhere from 5-10 Jr. High students to study and help them with their school work. It wasn't something I started my senior thinking of doing, but I actually got a lot out of helping those kids. It verified to me that I am pursuing the right area of study in college - High School Teacher.

March of 2020, the day was filled with excitement. We would be leaving right from school to head to the Section Championship game. The day before had been difficult, as each athlete had to choose just 5 people who could attend the game to support them. At 10 am, all of the basketball players were called to go to the large meeting room at our high school. Coach sat us all down and told us that the MSHSL (MN State High School League) was shutting down all youth/high school sports due to the rising threat of the Corona Virus. Our season was done. While I was of course sad about the call, I never let it squash my love of the game. Our team wasn't allowed to practice or play together anymore that season, but I made the decision to still work hard on my own. Through that spring and summer, we were all on lockdown. My family was a great support to me during this time. I continued to run and practice basketball while at home. The next school year came, and things were loosening up some, but we were still unsure what school or sports would look like. All sports were to be modified. Masked was worn during practice and play time. While it was a bit annoying, I was just so happy to get to do the sports that I love!

Prior to 2020, I wouldn't have been able to give you any ways that I could honestly say that I had personally been affected by a mental health issue. I'm not sure if that is because I hadn't really paid attention around me, if I was too young to have felt any, or if I just hadn't been around anything. After essentially losing my school year and spring track and field season due to the shutdown effect of the Coronavirus, I noticed myself feeling lonely, feeling lost, and just not having a purpose. I couldn't spend any time with any friends or family, other than my parents or sister. I couldn't participate in the activities that I loved most. I saw social media posts by my classmates that showed the bad choices they were begining to make. Some were cutting and harming themselves. Others were starting to drink and even try out illegal drugs. I didn't know what to with any of these situations. I have always been close with my parents, but I felt myself withdrawing from them. I didn't know how to share with them the things I knew were happening with my peers. I started to feel numb rather than even caring about them or anything else. Fortunately, my mom noticed that something was off. She sat with me and just waited it out. I finally broke down and shared everything with her. She listened and tried to give me some ideas. Finally, she told me she thought that I needed to do two things. First of all, she said I needed to really pray about how I could help myself get a handle on what I was feeling. She also advised me to get in touch with a former teammate, Cody, who has become a mentor to me. She thought that he would be able to listen and also give me more relevant advice. Cody knew what to say. He had seen his classmates go through some of these same things. He shared his fears and his solutions with me. I am still able to go to him and talk things out. My mom had told me that one of the best things to do was to talk about the overwhelming thoughts that were in my head. She was right. As I talked about things I felt a weight lifted. I am glad that I was able to find a solution before things got deeper for me. I really feel like it will be advice that will follow me once I go on to college and then onto my career.

Elder members of our community are so important. I am fortunate to live in a small community and am surrounded by some great older folks. I am able to interact with them mostly at my church on Wednesdays and Sundays. There are a few gentlemen that I try to take time to visit each week. They and I look forward to talking about our weeks. Their stories are the best to hear! They always ask me about school, sports, and how my college preparation is going. I know that a few of them are lonely after having lost their wives recently. I really think that offering to help them with projects and needs is obviously a good way to improve their lives. I also think that simply putting time into visiting them helps them a lot too. I sure hope when I am older that there will be young people that want to get to know me and hear my stories. Having an impact on someone's life isn't hard it just takes a few moments of your time and a few kind words!

Don't have the cash you don't need it. I have had more than one person tell me this. I hope that I can hold by this for most things. It is difficult to wrap my head around right now when I am planning for college next year. I have been working hard at finding many scholarships to apply for in the hope that I won't have to take out very many student loans. I plan on being a teacher when I graduated from college and I really hope that I won't have tons of loans to stress about repaying. Being a three-sport athlete has made it challenging to have a job during the school year. I have worked the past few summers and I try to make the money that I make last throughout the school year. My parents try to check in with me to make sure I am being responsible with my spending. I already watch some of my peers spending way more money than they make and it worries me. I am grateful that I have had adults in my life model healthy spending/saving habits to me. I had a teacher at my high school tell me to choose my college wisely and that I shouldn't worry that a private college will look better on resumes when I am older. He assured me, and my classmates, that there is nothing wrong at all with a good state school. I definitely used this when I was being contacted by colleges. I am excited to be starting at Southwest State Minnesota University in Marshall, MN this coming fall.

Prior to 2020, I wouldn't have been able to give you any ways that I could honestly say that I had personally been affected by a mental health issue. I'm not sure if that is because I hadn't really paid attention around me, if I was too young to have felt any, or if I just hadn't been around anything. After essentially losing my school year and spring track and field season due to the shutdown effect of the Coronavirus, I noticed myself feeling lonely, feeling lost, and just not having a purpose. I couldn't spend any time with any friends or family, other than my parents or sister. I couldn't participate in the activities that I loved most. I saw social media posts by my classmates that showed the bad choices they were begining to make. Some were cutting and harming themselves. Others were starting to drink and even try out illegal drugs. I didn't know what to with any of these situations. I have always been close with my parents, but I felt myself withdrawing from them. I didn't know how to share with them the things I knew were happening with my peers. I started to feel numb rather than even caring about them or anything else. Fortunately, my mom noticed that something was off. She sat with me and just waited it out. I finally broke down and shared everything with her. She listened and tried to give me some ideas. Finally, she told me she thought that I needed to do two things. First of all, she said I needed to really pray about how I could help myself get a handle on what I was feeling. She also advised me to get in touch with a former teammate, Cody, who has become a mentor to me. She thought that he would be able to listen and also give me more relevant advice. Cody knew what to say. He had seen his classmates go through some of these same things. He shared his fears and his solutions with me. My mom had told me that one of the best things to do was to talk about the overwhelming thoughts that were in my head. She was right. As I talked about things I felt a weight lifted. I am glad that I was able to find a solution before things got deeper for me. I really feel like it will be advise that will follow me once I go on to college and then onto my career.

I have known since I was in early elementary school that I wanted to become a teacher. From when I was in early elementary school through around my junior year of high school I had always wanted to be a middle school or high school math teacher. Then my junior year during a “college in the schools” math course I had an instructor that made me rethink. I realized that while I do love math, it is a very difficult subject to teach. This led to my changing my mind to social studies. As I still really wanted to be a teacher, I just had realized that math may have not been the best option for me. I decided that becoming a High School History teacher would be a good fit. I have always loved history and I know that I want to make an impact on students' lives. I also hope that I can get into coaching. Teachers and coaches have had such a meaningful impact on my formative years. I only hope that someday I can do that for some other kids. This could impact my rural community in many different ways. For one, all rural communities are in need of good teachers. Whether it’s to help educate a less fortunate population, to maintain quality of education, or to help encourage the youth of the community to pursue education and to be creative. All of these things could be very intricate and important pieces in maintaining and/ or improving a rural community. Second, many members of rural communities often choose never to leave their community or many of those that do stick together when they do. Therefore this community always stays the same, and oftentimes no new perspective is brought into the area. For comparison, if some were to leave and come back with fresh perspectives this could make a very positive impact on the community and its members. Such as technological things that are found that could help the locals, or new ideas for ways to run things that make different pieces of the community move much more efficiently. Lastly, having good teachers makes being a part of the rural community more desirable. This could lead to a population increase, which could lead to new perspectives and more similar advancements to what I’ve previously discussed. In closing, good teachers can affect rural communities in many positive ways. Anywhere from advancements in technology to advancements culturally.

My name is Daniel Olson. I am proud to come from a small rural community. I have enjoyed working with smaller kids at my church and mentoring younger athletes that are in the same sports as I am. I was able to tutor 7th and 9th graders this winter. This has paired well with what I want to do in the future. I plan on majoring in high school social studies at Southwest Minnesota State University. From when I was in early elementary school through around my junior year of high school I had always wanted to be a middle school or high school math teacher. Then my junior year during a “college in the schools” math course I had an instructor that made me rethink. I realized that while I do love math, it is a very difficult subject to teach. This led to my changing my mind to social studies. As I still really wanted to be a teacher, I just had realized that math may have not been the best option for me. This could impact my rural community in many different ways. For one, all rural communities are in need of good teachers. Whether it’s to help educate a less fortunate population, to maintain quality of education, or to help encourage the youth of the community to pursue education and to be creative. All of these things could be very intricate and important pieces in maintaining and/ or improving a rural community. Second, many members of rural communities often choose never to leave their community or many of those that do stick together when they do. Therefore this community always stays the same, and oftentimes no new perspective is brought into the area. For comparison, if some were to leave and come back with fresh perspectives this could make a very positive impact on the community and its members. Such as technological things that are found that could help the locals, or new ideas for ways to run things that make different pieces of the community move much more efficiently. Lastly, having good teachers makes being a part of the rural community more desirable. This could lead to a population increase, which could lead to new perspectives and more similar advancements to what I’ve previously discussed. In closing, good teachers can affect rural communities in many positive ways. Anywhere from advancements in technology to advancements culturally.

Having grown up in the country, all things outdoors have always been a part of my life. Bored? Go outside. Stress? Go outside. It has always been my go-to, no matter how I am feeling. My family has always put our quality time focus on doing activities together in nature. We enjoy fishing. We love exploring the Minnesota north shore. We take several camping trips every year. I am a runner. While you can get your miles in on the treadmill, I would much prefer to take it outside and find a nature trail to jog down. When I began looking at colleges, I knew that I wanted to attend somewhere that was in a smaller city or town, where I could have access to nature just by taking a short walk. My plan once I am out of college, is to find a job at a rural school and hopefully impart my love of nature to my students.

1. I don't wanna pay for stuff. 2. Get a degree, teach kids stuff, make money. 3. I am an overcomer. Give me a challenge I will tackle it.

Daniel D - Determined. I worked hard at what I set my mind to. A - Athletic. Sports participation is an important part of who I am. N - Nerd. When I was younger and the "cool kids" would refer to me as a nerd. I have come to embrace it. I - Intelligent. I pride myself on working hard in school. E - Energetic. Though not officially diagnosed, I know that I have ADHD. I use year-round physical activity to harness my energy so I can focus on work and school. L - Loyal. To friends and family.

There have been multiple things in my life that I have worked hard at and succeeded at. But there is one specifically that sticks out the most to me, one that I am the most proud of. This was getting all-state honors in cross country my senior year. From the moment I began running cross country in 7th grade and heard my coach talking about one of the senior girls placing top 25 and being “all-state” the year before, I knew it was something I wanted to accomplish in my time as a runner. Then, from my 7th grade year through my 11th grade year, there was the same kid on our boys team who was just one year older than me, who got all-state honors in each of those years. Being a member of the varsity team with him for 4 of those 5 years, I got a very up close experience in watching the work he put in and all of the praise he got. This just motivated me that much more towards my goal of getting to the level of an all-state runner. So, each year both during season, during other sports seasons, and during the off season, I kept working towards this goal. Pounding out the miles, putting time in in the weight room, doing my best to eat as healthy as I could. Each year, I became closer and closer to that top 25 that I worked so hard for. In 8th grade, I placed 138th, nowhere near my goal, but I had plenty of time left I told myself. Then in 9th grade, I was 118th, a few places higher, but not quite where I had hoped I would be by that year. In 10th grade I made another small jump to 97th, but I had begun to run out of years, and I had a lot of places to go. This led to me working harder than ever the summer before the season. My 11th grade year we didn’t have a normal state meet due to covid a couple of teams didn’t run. Though in the one we did have I placed 26th. This was very promising because I knew I had a really good chance the next year at placing in the top 25. Then, my senior year came and the team made it to state for the 7th year in a row. But going into the meet, my fellow senior and best friend Connor and I both had lofty goals. We wanted to be the first teammates to both get all state the same year in our team's history. When we crossed that finish line and we knew we’d gotten it(him 19th and me 23rd), it was one of the best feelings I’ve ever gotten as an athlete and as a person.

Any activity that gets me moving and outdoors is what I would consider my hobby. I really like the outdoors. Winter can be more difficult to get outside, living in Minnesota adds to that challenge when it throws sub-zero temperatures at you. I enjoy running outdoors all year long. In the spring, my family likes to explore areas where we can see the ice coming off of the lakes and rivers. Taking out our ATVs can be done in spring, summer, or fall! In the summer, I like to camp, bike, hike, and just explore outside. In the fall, I enjoy spending time with my family hunting and enjoying the mild weather. I like to go cross country and downhill skiing in the colder months. Any activity that brings together the people I enjoy being with and outdoor activities make me really enjoy life. I have to say that I see myself always living somewhere that has great access to outdoor living. I just can't see myself being somewhere that makes it hard to get outside and move and breathe fresh air. Country living definitely suits me better than the concrete juggle of a city. I find it challenging right now, as we have had several weeks of weather that is below 0 degrees. I have bundled up a few times and gone skiing in our backyard. Even the chore of helping split and haul wood isn't terrible when it means that I can get outside! Lately, I find myself waiting on long daylight, melting snow, and roads and trails that aren't covered in ice and snow. Warm spring evenings are the best for going for a nice peaceful run down my quiet country road. I will gladly dodge a few mud puddles if it means I can escape the confines of the house!