Who is Kaiden Akerman? Well if I were to have to explain myself in a nutshell I guess I would have to share the most important parts of me, God serving, Family loving, Dallas Cowboys #1 fan! I realize these aren't the three things that make up my DNA but I would say they play some of the biggest roles in shaping me into the man I am today. I owe everything I am and everything I am going to do to Christ! My faith has always played an active and integral part in my daily life. I've been dealt difficult cards at times and my faith has helped me be able to view those obstacles as just that an obstacle and I have persevered through it. Some of my closest friendships are centered around my spirituality and having this common ground is something I am very thankful for. My mom and little sister have been two of the closest individuals to me and some of my biggest supporters. My extended family is big and equally as supportive to me which has helped me view family as a blessing rather than an obligation. My family and I camp, vacation, laugh, cry, go boating, and have BBQs together and all of these things are some traditions I hope to one day pass on to my family. Without my family's love and encouragement, I'm not sure I would be the person I am today, chasing after my dreams at TCU. My Cowboys!! What else can I say? I've been a diehard fan since I was 3 years old. My family tells a story about my eyes growing two sizes after seeing the football team on the TV with the blue stars on their jerseys. I was hooked! Not only is Dallas my team but Football is one of my biggest passions. My knowledge of the game is so great I sometimes can spend hours running mock drafts of how I believe the team should look. Even though I know a great deal about football, my love for the game is even bigger. I've played football since I was in grade school and could never get enough. Math is a subject that I found to be enjoyable at a young age yet I loved the challenge that can come along with it. I feel Math pushes me mentally and keeps my brain healthy and active. While in college I hope to pursue a degree in Mathematics with the goal of going into Statistics one day. Maybe even tying sports into that. Bringing my two loves together sounds like a dream career and a ton of fun at the same time. The ultimate job would be working for the Dallas Cowboys while using my Math major at the same time. The Hilliard L. “Tack” Gibbs Jr. scholarship would allow me to continue to attend school at Texas Christian University while minimizing the financial impact my tuition is having on my single and low-income mother. My Ma as I call her is the best mother anyone could ask for and she has done everything in her power to allow me to go after any and all of my dreams no matter the effect it might have on her. She is my true inspiration and I can't thank her nearly enough, but I can try to do my part and find scholarships available to me to assist in lessening my academic costs for her. Thank you for your consideration, and it was an honor to share a little about me.

Leadership is something a person demonstrates through their actions, skills, and character. To stand out as a leader means climbing out of your own comfort zone and putting the feelings of others before your own to achieve a greater goal. I have had many experiences in my life to not only demonstrate leadership abilities but also learn new tactics to become the best leader I can. One of the most impactful experiences of leadership that stays with me to this day would be my role as a Youth Leader in my youth group. Towards the end of my Junior year in high school and through the end of my Senior year I became heavily involved in student leadership within my church. I wanted to make a difference in the lives of younger kids in my community and within my youth group even though I was still attending youth group myself. As a youth leader, we met weekly to pray over these younger kids who we would be meeting with and then once we would meet together on Sunday mornings, I had the opportunity to expand upon our message and ask my group of middle school boys their thoughts and for feedback. I tend to be more of an introvert but I found that pushing myself to be more open and willing to be vulnerable, led the younger ones to find the freedom to do the same. Leadership is not only talking about doing something, you must also practice and walk out what you are saying. Leading by example is something that has been ingrained in me from a young age and I feel like I have found great value in being a leader because of such values. In addition to living out leadership, I have also had individuals throughout my life who have demonstrated leadership to me in various forms. Leadership or being a leader doesn't look only one way and I have been able to see just because a person is in a leadership role does not always mean that role is the best match. Some people are meant to follow. I've had sports coaches over the years who have been able to speak truths into me because of the type of men they are on and even more so off the field. The way these coaches lived out the way they were coaching and leading me spoke deeply to me and left a mark on me to this day. On the same hand, I've had those coaches who I would never wish on anyone! This form of "leadership" is one of the most dangerous in my opinion because in my case as a kid I clung to every word my coaches said and sometimes their words were like knives and the toxic traits they carried far outweighed any positive influence they could have had on me. Thankfully, my family was always there to support me and helped me see past this poor leadership. With leadership comes a level of responsibility to be empathetic to others. You must be able to see past yourself and lead even in the most stressful of times if that is a role you have found yourself in. People are always watching, so get out there and make the next person into the Leader you wish you had.