I never expected beach volleyball to change my life — I stumbled into it because one of my friends said it was fun. At the time, soccer was my main sport. I had dedicated years to it and was really considering playing at the collegiate level. But the moment I stepped onto the sand, something clicked. Within a single year, I had quit soccer entirely and was fully committed to playing beach volleyball. The community is what sets it apart from soccer: my coaches, my teammates, the regulars at my local beach. Beach volleyball has given me some of my closest friends, and when the opportunity to bring that kind of community with me to college presented itself, saying yes was easy. What made my decision even more meaningful was the adversity I had to fight through to get there. During my junior year indoor season, I took a direct hit to the face from a 6'3" UCLA beach commit, resulting in a serious concussion that kept me off the court for over five months. At that point, I had already been committed to play Division I beach volleyball at San Jose State University for nearly a year and had recently signed. Recovery wasn't a straight line, and there were real moments where I feared my volleyball career was coming to an end. Yet I pushed through that uncertainty, the setbacks, the slow progress, and the doubt that I wouldn’t be able to play again. I am now back on the sand, training harder than ever, and more excited for my freshman year at SJSU. The months away from volleyball also opened an unexpected door. Enrolled in the Entrepreneurship Academy at my high school, and suddenly, with time on my hands, my friend and I began building a startup business. A mobile app that lets users store, track, and manage their gift cards digitally. We have already started developing our MVP and working through the legal side of launching our company. I love the high-pressure, problem-solving nature of building something from nothing. I have been finding ways to start small businesses since I was young, from slime businesses to now, a full-on app. At SJSU, I plan to major in Business with a focus on Entrepreneurship. My goal after graduation is to enter the tech industry in Silicon Valley, gain real experience inside high-growth companies, and then eventually start my own. The combination of competing at the Division I level while building a business has already taught me more about discipline, time management, and resilience than anything else could. This scholarship would allow me to work fewer hours during the season and give me the space to perform at my highest level on the sand.