Losing a loved one can be a profound and life-changing experience and radically shift one's sense of self and overall security, particularly if it is the loss of a very close family member like a grandmother. The loss of my grandmother Frankie brought up a range of emotions, including sadness, grief, and even anger, and it definitely caused me to re-evaluate my priorities and perspectives on life. My grandmother was one of the most amazing and special people I had ever had the chance to be around. She was always kind and always found time to connect with me one on one at family events even though my mother had a large family. She was hip and cool and understood young people and was never judgemental. She always found me with her eyes across a room and she would warm my heart with her beautiful loving smile even when she was in tremendous pain from her 4-year battle with cancer and multiple rounds of Chemotherapy. She never complained about being in pain and never let you focus on her because it was always about how you were doing and what wonders were happing in your life. She was inspiring, smart, and warm and always had a timely idiom for every situation. Such as: It's not the sitting down it's the getting up. Find the good in everybody. If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. Treat others as you would like to be treated. Don't go to bed mad. In the aftermath of losing my grandmother, I realized the importance of cherishing and valuing the time you have with your loved ones. I also developed a greater appreciation for the impact that she had on my life and the lives of others, and I have made a conscious effort to carry on her legacy of kindness, making others feel valued and special through my everyday actions and choices. Grandma Frankie made everyone who knew her a better person by seeing the good in everyone and always making you feel like the most special person in the world. I miss her with all my heart and hope and pray I can have half the impact on people in my life that she had on everyone who was lucky enough to know her. I Love you Grandma Frankie and I will always cherish my time with you.

The Hard way is how I would describe myself and also illustrate why I am unique. I have never taken the easy path. I have always chosen the difficult path in academics and in sports even when I knew it was going to impact my social life or my free time. As I was finishing 8th grade I was invited to be a part of the International Baccalaureate program which was a big honor but meant I would be going to Fisher High School and not Hamilton South Eastern with all my friends that I had spent the last 9 years building friendships and playing on a sports team together. Everyone told me that I was making a big mistake and I would regret my decision but I felt like I still needed to pursue my academic talents and see where the IB program would take me. As you can imagine the next 4-years were extremely rigorous and challenging and all my classes were with the same 15 kids which outside of the IB program I did not have a lot in common with outside of school. I could have picked the easy choice and gone to Hamiton South Eastern with all my friends and done the regular honors courses but I would never have known if I could concur with the IB program. My second example of me being unique and choosing the hard way was while I was in high school I played soccer but decided to hang up my soccer cleats and try out for the football team my senior year. When I met with the coaches to let them know I wanted to be Kicker for the varsity Football team they told me "that's great but you will probably never play in a game." Again everyone including my closest friends told me you're wasting your time, the team already has several good kickers and you haven't played in the last 3-Years. I didn't let that stop me I showed up every day met with a private coach and pushed the other kickers every day in practice. Eventually, the coaches saw my ability and I was given the chance to play Junior Varsity, where I excelled and received special teams player of the week. I continued to push all the kickers until finally, the coaches had to eat crow and play me on the Varsity team. I excelled at the Varsity level and I have been invited 8 plus D3 Football visits throughout Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Illinois. I have been on many Football visits and have been accepted to every school I have applied to, but the financial piece is still a factor even though I have received several partial scholarships. I chose the IB program at a different school while all my friends went to another school, and I picked the most difficult sports team (Varsity Football) and positions even when the coach said not to, but I always manage to come out on top due to my hard work, willingness to win and desire to push my limits. I know I didn't have the high school experience most of my close friends had but I wanted more for my life and I wanted to my family proud. I have always bet on myself and I am asking you to bet on me so I can make a difference in other people's lives after college. I want to create innovative entrepreneurial business opportunities for my local community that develop inspire and promote tomorrow's young minds while giving back to less fortunate individuals in my community.

The Hard way is how I would describe myself and also illustrate why I am unique. I have never taken the easy path. I have always chosen the difficult path in academics and in sports even when I knew it was going to impact my social life or my free time. As I was finishing 8th grade I was invited to be a part of the International Baccalaureate program which was a big honor but meant I would be going to Fisher High School and not Hamilton South Eastern with all my friends that I had spent the last 9 years building friendships and playing on a sports team together. Everyone told me that I was making a big mistake and I would regret my decision but I felt like I still needed to pursue my academic talents and see where the IB program would take me. As you can imagine the next 4-years were extremely rigorous and challenging and all my classes were with the same 15 kids which outside of the IB program I did not have a lot in common with outside of school. I could have picked the easy choice and gone to Hamiton South Eastern with all my friends and done the regular honors courses but I would never have known if I could concur with the IB program. My second example of me being unique and choosing the hard way was while I was in high school I played soccer but decided to hang up my soccer cleats and try out for the football team my senior year. When I met with the coaches to let them know I wanted to be Kicker for the varsity Football team they told me "that's great but you will probably never play in a game." Again everyone including my closest friends told me you're wasting your time, the team already has several good kickers and you haven't played in the last 3-Years. I didn't let that stop me I showed up every day met with a private coach and pushed the other kickers every day in practice. Eventually, the coaches saw my ability and I was given the chance to play Junior Varsity, where I excelled and received special teams player of the week. I continued to push all the kickers until finally, the coaches had to eat crow and play me on the Varsity team. I excelled at the Varsity level and I have been invited 8 plus D3 Football visits throughout Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Illinois. I have been on many Football visits and have been accepted to every school I have applied to, but the financial piece is still a factor even though I have received several partial scholarships. I chose the IB program at a different school while all my friends went to another school, and I picked the most difficult sports team (Varsity Football) and positions even when the coach said not to, but I always manage to come out on top due to my hard work, willingness to win and desire to push my limits. I know I didn't have the high school experience most of my close friends had but I wanted more for my life and I wanted to my family proud. I have always bet on myself and I am asking you to bet on me so I can make a difference in other people's lives after college. I want to create innovative entrepreneurial business opportunities for my local community that develop inspire and promote tomorrow's young minds while giving back to less fortunate individuals in my community.

The Hard way is how I would describe myself and also illustrate why I am unique. I have never taken the easy path. I have always chosen the difficult path in academics and in sports even when I knew it was going to impact my social life or my free time. As I was finishing 8th grade I was invited to be a part of the International Baccalaureate program which was a big honor but meant I would be going to Fisher High School and not Hamilton South Eastern with all my friends that I had spent the last 9 years building friendships and playing on a sports team together. Everyone told me that I was making a big mistake and I would regret my decision but I felt like I still needed to pursue my academic talents and see where the IB program would take me. As you can imagine the next 4-years were extremely rigorous and challenging and all my classes were with the same 15 kids which outside of the IB program I did not have a lot in common with outside of school. I could have picked the easy choice and gone to Hamiton South Eastern with all my friends and done the regular honors courses but I would never have known if I could concur with the IB program. My second example of me being unique and choosing the hard way was while I was in high school I played soccer but decided to hang up my soccer cleats and try out for the football team my senior year. When I met with the coaches to let them know I wanted to be Kicker for the varsity Football team they told me "that's great but you will probably never play in a game." Again everyone including my closest friends told me you're wasting your time, the team already has several good kickers and you haven't played in the last 3-Years. I didn't let that stop me I showed up every day met with a private coach and pushed the other kickers every day in practice. Eventually, the coaches saw my ability and I was given the chance to play Junior Varsity, where I excelled and received special teams player of the week. I continued to push all the kickers until finally, the coaches had to eat crow and play me on the Varsity team. I excelled at the Varsity level and I have been invited 8 plus D3 Football visits throughout Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Illinois. I have been on many Football visits and have been accepted to every school I have applied to, but the financial piece is still a factor even though I have received several partial scholarships. I chose the IB program at a different school while all my friends went to another school, and I picked the most difficult sports team (Varsity Football) and positions even when the coach said not to, but I always manage to come out on top due to my hard work, willingness to win and desire to push my limits. I know I didn't have the high school experience most of my close friends had but I wanted more for my life and I wanted to my family proud. I have always bet on myself and I am asking you to bet on me so I can make a difference in other people's lives after college. I want to create innovative entrepreneurial business opportunities for my local community that develop inspire and promote tomorrow's young minds while giving back to less fortunate individuals in my community.