Wrestling is like no other sport. It’s unpredictable, you have to adapt to any situation, it’s physically exhausting, and at the end of any match, you are 100% responsible for the outcome. It’s like Dan Gable says, “”Wrestling isn’t just a sport, it’s a way of life.” I live by this quote today and I will continue to use the skills I learned in wrestling when I apply them to my future in STEM- specifically in the field of environmental engineering. The most important skill of wrestling is setting my own goals, while meeting the goals of my team. When I started as a freshman, I was a pudgy, slow eighth grader returning to sports after a year of online learning. I wanted to throw up at the thought of practice. By the end of the first few weeks, I was winning freshmen tournaments and my coach said I could compete at a Varsity level if I was willing to train harder. Before I knew it, I was placing at high level varsity tournaments, and by then my approach to training shifted in a positive direction, seeing if I worked harder to reach higher goals, I had the potential to achieve them. Training with the intent of working to improve increased my mental toughness significantly; working as hard as I could every day allowed me to learn from my setbacks rather than letting them prevent me from achieving my goals. The support, the competition, positive mindset, determination, and my discipline helped me succeed in wrestling. It is these skills that I hope to use in the field of STEM, specifically in environmental engineering. The field of engineering in itself is a field that is surrounded by problems and obstacles. Resilience is a key factor to achieve success, learning from setbacks to meet the final goal. This is just like wrestling. You have to watch your diet, avoid bad influences, keep an eye on the competition, be in the best cardio shape, and still set short term and long term goals. Every year I have improved in all my placings. This year, I hope to bring home two championships- one for my team, and the other for myself. My reliance and self-motivation are skills which will serve me well in my near university future taking on the challenges of cleaning up the land, air, or water. More than anything, I can’t wait to return to the mat. I have an eight year old little brother who is a lover of the sport. But, my brother has Down Syndrome. When he started to walk, the doctor told us he should never do two things--jump on a trampoline, or wrestle. This doctor was wrong. Right when I graduate, I am teaming up with a nationwide organization that runs sports specifically for people with a designer gene on the 21st chromosome. We plan to host wrestling at my high school. It will become the first center for wrestling for kids like my little brother. Finally, although I have earned the upper weight MVP for three years, I am proudest of my scholar athlete awards. I hope they remember my work ethic and love for the sport after I graduate. And to quote Dan Gable one more time, my favorite USA gold medal Olympian wrestler, “Once you’ve wrestled, everything else in life is easy.” I can already attest to this. My AP Calculus class is easy compared to daily wrestling practices. I look forward to my future in STEM, just as much as I am looking forward to my time working with little wrestlers.