I grew up in my church, but I did not fully understand what religion truly was until my sophomore year of high school when I was confirmed. Before that, I found myself going through the motions and not getting anything out of my devotionals or prayers. While I was being confirmed, I was going through a hard patch in my life. It was during this time that I learned to root myself and my relationships in my faith and to trust that God has a plan for me. My relationship with Jesus has helped me develop a stronger faith. I have learned to lean on Him during difficult times and to seek His guidance in my daily life. This has given me a sense of peace and direction that I did not have before. I have also learned the importance of serving others, which I have done through volunteering at my church and with organizations like Sweet Grace Ministries, Down Right Perfect, Power Pack, and Mini-Thon. These experiences have taught me the value of compassion and selflessness, and I have seen how my faith can make a positive impact on others. As I prepare to start my journey at Wilson College, where I will be majoring in Kinesiology and Physical Therapy, I plan to implement my faith throughout my educational journey. College is a new and challenging experience, and it is natural to feel scared about the unknown. However, I am ready for the twists and turns. I trust that even if my end result is not what I expected it to be, it is going to be exactly where I am supposed to be. I plan to stay rooted in my faith by continuing to attend church and being active in my faith community. I will also continue to volunteer and serve others, as I believe this is a crucial part of living out my faith. My involvement in extracurriculars throughout my high school experience, has taught me the importance of teamwork, dedication, and using my talents to glorify God. I will carry these lessons with me as I pursue my studies and future career. In my future career as a physical therapist, I hope to use my faith to provide compassionate care to my patients. I believe that my faith will guide me to treat each patient with kindness and respect, and to see them as the individuals they are, with unique needs and stories. I also hope to inspire others to trust in God’s plan for their lives, just as I have learned to do. In conclusion, my relationship with Jesus has strengthened my faith and given me a sense of purpose. As I embark on my educational journey at Wilson College, I plan to stay rooted in my faith, serve others, and trust in God’s plan for my life. I am confident that my faith will guide me through the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead, and I am excited to see where this journey will take me.

As a young girl I had so much energy that my parents put me in all sorts of activities to wear me out, with the hopes that one of them would stick. They got their wish, and I immediately fell in love with the sport softball. I was a scrawny girl whose jersey swallowed her and who could barely hold the bat up straight, but you could rarely ever find me without a smile on my face while I was on the diamond. I learned how to play all the positions but fell in love with being a catcher. In my early years I heard all the jokes about being too little to be a catcher, and how I was just going to get pummeled playing there, but me being the stubborn girl I was, and still am, I took it as a challenge. I decided that I was going to be the best catcher I could be. I got older and decided that I wanted to play travel ball. Although I loved softball, there were still other activities I wanted to keep doing, so my parents and I tried to find a team that didn't play in as many tournaments, but still played at a competitive level. We searched and searched until we found the perfect team. When I joined the PA Wild I had high hopes and a positive mindset. I was excited to play year round and make new friends, but the longer I played on the team the more frustrated I got. Our coach played favorites, didn't take constructive criticism, and was a sore loser. I slowly started to lose my love for the game. Practices drained me, and games were a nightmare. The only positive thing from that experience was my assistant coach, Tim Gehring. I had been coached by many coaches before, but Tim carried himself so much differently than the others. He had a chip on his shoulder, but didn't act better than everyone else. He knew the game inside and out, yet instead of drilling into us the way to hit a ball or turn a double play, he taught us to be confident in ourselves. He wanted us to make mistakes so he could use them as a teaching moment. Tim was competitive and wanted to win, but he never berated us or made us feel little like the other coaches did. Tim was a catcher in college, so I often had 1 on 1 lessons with him while the other girls were in the field. To this day, I am my own hardest critic and Tim saw that. He could sense when I was getting frustrated when I wasn't picking up a new skill. Instead of redoing a drill over and over he simply talked to me. When I was beating myself up over something, he simply took a break. He gave me advice that went beyond the field that I still use in my daily life. Although I don't play softball anymore, I fell in love with the sport of field hockey. Picking up a new sport is never easy, but every step of the way I thought of Tim. When I found myself putting too much pressure on myself I thought of Tim and how he always helped me take a step away and relax. Every time I got a new skill, I thought of Tim and how he was always celebrating the little things. Tim has helped me walk with a quiet confidence in my day to day life, and it has changed me as a person.

My family and I were living in Georgia with my grandparents for a short period of time when I was in 4th grade. My dad's job had him working in South Carolina, and my grandparents lived only 20 minutes away from my dad's office so we stayed with them. This year my younger brother was in 1st grade and started playing baseball. I was playing softball at the time so we played in the same complex which made it easier on my parents to watch both of us. One day after my brother had his first hit, my dad was so excited that he told us he was going to take us to get milkshakes. I don't remember the exact establishment, but we pulled up through the drive thru and played our order. This was around the time that two-lane drive thru's were starting to become a thing, so my dad decided he wanted to go through the second lane. Unfortunately for us, the lane wasn't marked very well and my dad had no idea what he was doing. He ended up 15 feet away from the window and had absolutely no idea what to do. He starts hanging out his window and yelling "Ma'am? Ma'am! You at the window!". My brother and I thought this was the funniest thing ever as the poor worker, who couldn't have been older than 17, pops her head out the window and says "Sir the window is over here". My brother and I lost it and started giggling the whole way home we could barely drink our milkshakes, or in my brother's case- his slushy. We got home and my brother immediately rushed inside to tell my mom and grandma who were sitting at the kitchen table. My dad and I follow him in and at this point everyone is there listening to my brother tell the story through his fits of laughter. Well since he was laughing so hard, his slushy was almost full. My dad, in an attempt to be funny, picks up my brother and flings him over his shoulder. The problem with this however is that my brother was holding his blue raspberry slushy when he was flipped upside down. Low-and-behold both my dad and brother are covered in slushy and it is all over the floor. My grandma almost fell out of her chair she was laughing so hard. My brother was in awe as my dad put him on and their was no more slushy in his cup. For some reason, that I still to this day don't know, my brothers only solution was to go and sit in his car seat until someone came out to take him to get another blue raspberry slushy. My mom likes to keep all of our uniforms, and to this day you can still see a faint blue stain on the uniform from the slushy.

As an older sister, I have gotten to watch my siblings grow up which is an extremely surreal experience. One day they were babies just learning to walk, and the next I'm driving them around town to different events and games. My siblings and I have a stereotypical sibling relationship. We bicker and fight all the time, but the minute someone upsets one of us, the other two become essentially overprotective guard dogs. As the oldest I haven't had an older sibling to look up to, so I try to make sure I'm the best role model I can be for my brother and sister. I involve myself in lots of activities and spend a lot of time on school work to keep my grades up. Through this I became extremely active as the president of my schools Mini-THON which raises money for pediatric cancer patients. As I planned the fundraisers and our day of event, I got the opportunity to talk to families who have a child who is currently battling cancer, or have had to experience the devastating loss of a child due to cancer. These families often have more than one child, and these kids feel helpless as their watch their brother or sister go in and out of the hospital, never knowing if they're going to win or lose the battle. As my eyes were opened to these situations, I realized that I wanted to help families like this. As I was figuring out my path, I got to talk to the father of a little girl battling cancer. It started as a simple conversation with him asking what I plan to do after high school, and I gave him the basic answer of "I hope to be a physical therapist one day," but what he said after solidified my path. He told me that without great physical therapists, his daughter wouldn't be at our school running and playing like she was. She had to pretty much relearn how to walk, and that is when it clicked in my brain. I have found my passion in physical therapy, and I want to use this passion to help these families. I want to work with pediatric cancer patients after they WIN their battles. I want to help them learn to walk, run, jump, and skip, so they can play with their siblings again. I want to help them gain back the childhood that cancer ripped away from them. These families are so strong and I want to continue to give them support for the rest of my life. I believe that every child deserves a fair chance at life, and I want to be a reason this kids will get one.

I only recently started playing field hockey, but sports have been a major part of my up bringing. My parents originally signed me up for sports to wear me out and give me something to do. Over the years I fell in love with softball and started spending hours upon hours working on different things to make me the best athlete I could be. There was rarely a time that you would see me without softball equipment in my hand. As I started to play at a higher level however, I slowly started to fall out of love with it. I had coaches telling me I wasn't good enough, I wasn't strong enough, I wasn't fast enough until one day I finally had enough. I no longer held the same love for the sport that I did, but I was going to find a way to prove those coaches wrong. As I started trying out more sports, I enjoyed them all but nothing stuck the way field hockey did. Something about it made me so happy, and brought back my determination to be the best I could be. I started playing in my junior year of high school, which to many people is considered a "late start". In my mind if I worked hard enough I would be able to catch up to the girls that had been playing their whole lives. So while many kids were off enjoying their summer vacations, I was working. I attended every open gym I was able to, I lifted weights, went on runs, and had my stick in my hand any chance available. The season started and our coaching staff was almost entirely new, and I knew in my heart that this was my chance to prove to myself that I am good enough, and that hard work really does pay off. I listened to every word that the coaches said to me. I took every criticism and remembered it so I could work on it later. I listened to every praise but made sure I never got overly confident. I made sure to give everything I had everyday. I once had a coach tell me that he wanted to see me give more effort, and ever since then I have been doing exactly that. In everything I do, I try to do my absolute best. I work hard and never let myself get too comfortable. Sports have taught me one of the most valuable life lessons. If you want something you need to work hard and then some. You have to give everything you have to achieve your goals and dreams.