It is strange. In one year, I have gone from telling people what I was going to do with my life to actually doing it. My parents, especially my mom, thought that my first year at college would change my direction, but it hasn't. On the contrary, it has made my path forward even more clear. I am a biomedical science major at Central Michigan University and next year I will apply to medical school where I will study to become a family practitioner. Upon completion, I plan to practice in a rural area. I began taking steps to achieve my goal in high school. I took advantage of the state's dual-enrollment policy. I graduated from high school with 31 credits completed at an area community college. Through my classes both at high school and the community college, I maintained a 4.0 GPA. I took classes that my small, poor, rural high school could not offer - anatomy and physiology, probability and statistics, psychology, medical terminology, among others. These classes allowed me to study topics that directly related to becoming a doctor. All of these credits have also allowed me to accelerate through university course work. I will be able to get through undergrad and into medical school in less time because I planned ahead. While at university, I have continued taking steps to reach my goal. Besides completing the requisite course work and earning a spot on the President's List with a 4.0 GPA, I have found an excellent mentor. Additionally, I am part of a unique and exclusive leadership program. Through the program not only I am honing leadership skills, but I am also learning to work with people from various backgrounds and appreciate cultural differences. Additionally, I am a member of the Pre-Medicine and Osteopathic Society where we discuss current issues and trends in medicine and study research regarding best practice and cutting edge discoveries. You now know "what," but before you go, it's important to me that you also know my "why." Access to healthcare became a critical issue for me when my grandmother needed a liver transplant eight years ago. Her condition went undiagnosed for too long because it was a large hassle to get from the farm to the doctors; furthermore, there were long wait times to get appointments with her regular doctor because he was the only one in the area and had a long list of patients to see. By the time she was diagnosed, she was in end-stage liver failure and put, almost immediately, on the transplant list. To prepare for her transplant, she had to travel around two hours to a hospital with specialists. She had her successful transplant there and our family had to find hotel rooms or make the four-hour roundtrip every day for the weeks that she was there. She had to continue going back to that hospital for follow-up checks and still returns yearly for her transplant check-up. Nobody in Michigan should have to travel extensively for medical care. I remember thinking that distinctly even when I was very young watching my grandmother go through her transplant. I believe that I can help be a part of the solution to the shortage of family practices, and maybe I can help somebody's grandmother before they find themselves on the transplant list.

I want to be upfront with you - I am biased about this topic. I love calculus. Unlike almost all of my high school classmates, math is natural to me and calculus is math on a different level. While most people see it as an inexplicable and incomprehensible alien language, I see it as a valuable tool in all areas of STEM. I’m sure that I don’t need to define calculus for you, but I will anyway. An official dictionary definition is “...mathematics that deals with… derivatives and integrals of functions by methods originally based on the summation of infinitesimal differences.” Most people need that translated. Basically, it means that calculus is a system that helps organize complex data and identify tiny differences and trends. How could that not be important to STEM fields? Take a look at the work surrounding Covid-19. Biologists, chemists, doctors, and economists (which I know isn’t technically STEM, but it’s the most STEM-like part of the social sciences) all worked on understanding the disease, predicting its behavior, preventing its spread, and designing responses to its impact. Calculus was a part of all of that. Viruses are tiny things, and the changes a virus goes through are even smaller and more numerous. As researchers dug into how the virus functioned and mutated, they had to use a system to track data and changes. On the chemistry side, calculus functions could provide a way to organize and analyze the impact of chemical reactions for the vaccine on the virus and on the human body. The doctors running the response to the disease used mathematical models to predict how the virus would spread. Economists employed data trends from charts and graphs created with functions (a basic principle of calculus) to optimize government responses to the spread of the virus. Obviously, each of these facets of the world's response to the virus employed other skills from STEM departments, but calculus seems to be an important foundation of each of these. Above all, calculus is a method of reasoning. All STEM areas need a constant and reliable system of reasoning to build on. All of the examples above were directly related to a medical emergency, but calculus is important to more than medicine. In engineering, calculus is used in structural analysis and in predicting and understanding forces. In computer science, algorithms and functions are the basis of most programs. AI is on the verge of changing our world, and it is based on functions and algorithms; so in part, the greatest advancement in computer science since the internet stems from calculus. Calculus helped build the bridges and aqueducts that were the arteries of the Roman Empire. Calculus helped send man to the moon. Calculus helps make it possible for me to Snap my friends or call my grandparents. Whatever the STEM realm, however big or small, calculus provides a solid foundation for discovery and innovation. I am glad to speak that language and I am proud to say I love calculus.

My parents are my teachers and not because I am homeschooled. I attend the same small, rural school where they teach. They believe that they should have enough faith in the school where they work that they would send their own children to it. They have set an example of servant leadership that has shaped my life. As an athlete, sports make up one part of my community. My application shows that I am a five-sport eighteen-time varsity athlete. It does not show how I have tried to be the type of leader and teammate that creates positivity and opportunities for others. Soccer is my passion, but I almost didn’t play high school soccer. When I was in middle school, Martin did not have a soccer team. I started a conversation with the athletic director; working together, we found a neighboring school that would co-op with us. I was able to play varsity soccer all four years of high school, two as captain. That partnership extends to other sports, like golf, and created opportunities for more than a dozen other student athletes to follow passions that our school could not offer alone. Bowling was new to me when I hit high school, but I wanted to try it. When our bowling team faced possible elimination, I helped find a coach and encouraged others to join. We now have almost 30 bowlers, many of whom would not be student athletes without the program. There are other teams that I’ve helped as well. I joined football when the regular kicker came down with Covid and left the team in need. I was just supposed to fill in, but, turns out, I had a lot to contribute. I joined the team as a backup kicker. This year, I had to step up for the state championship game when the starter became injured. I contributed seven points and we won. I began cross country the same way - as a fill-in. They had four scoring runners and needed five to make a team. I came out my freshman year and helped the team be competitive and just kept coming back to be part of the team. My peers have seen my commitment beyond sports. They have elected me to positions in student government. As student council president, I work to make other council members successful. I chair committees and help underclassmen figure out plans and solve problems. Together we plan and execute homecoming weeks and community service projects. As class vice president, I have worked with my classmates to plan prom and senior trip, execute numerous fundraisers, and encourage participation in community-building events like homecoming. In these leadership roles, I have helped my classmates have fun and create experiences with one another that they will remember for years. I’ve also mentored younger students on how to be leaders and help create the kind of school they envision. Whether it’s contributing to a sports team or the activities of the student body, I have the desire to serve my community. That desire is even shaping my future. I want to become a family practitioner in underserved communities, like rural areas. There is a need for this type of medical care to be available, and I believe I can make more of a difference in a community in this capacity. Whatever path I take and whatever university I attend, my commitment to giving back and my style of servant leadership come with me. I have watched firsthand as my parents have lived it, and their example has deeply ingrained it in me.

I have earned 18 varsity letters and 6 captaincies across 5 sports while earning outstanding grades, participating in multiple clubs and service projects, and working. I have a proven track record of dedication, leadership, sacrifice, balance, and work ethic. This is what I bring to every team I commit to. Of all my sports, soccer is my passion and I have always worked hard for my team. The only game I have ever missed was due to Covid exposure protocols. I love playing forward and attacking mid, but after our entire defense graduated last year, I had to work harder at holding mid to help our new and inexperienced defense and goalie. I was also able to set up plays and make scoring opportunities happen for our strong offense. I know that position move impacted my stats on paper, but it was the best thing for the team. Also good for the team has been my off season play. Since 8th grade, I’ve made time, while playing in my other high school varsity sports, to play with many of my teammates on an indoor rec team. We play against athletes from larger schools, yet we have won our group more than once and I have consistently been on the leaderboard for points and assists. This experience has helped keep the team together. The team is important to me because I almost didn’t have one. I actually play for Delton Kellogg High School because my school - Martin High School - did not have a soccer program. In middle school I began talking with my athletic director, who then reached out to the other athletic director to start the co-op program. Even with the co-op program, we have struggled. My sophomore season was almost canceled due to Covid, but luckily we were allowed to play if we wore masks. Every year we struggle to gather enough players, and we often recruit those who have never played before. So, I was able to play high school varsity soccer all four years, but I have never taken one game for granted. And that is what soccer, and my other sports, is not to take things for granted. With everything that happens in the world - pandemics, wars, local politics, personal issues - I am grateful each time I get to step onto the pitch and play my passion for 90 minutes. It’s “just sports,” as some people will say, but it has given me friends and something beyond myself to work for.