An activity that I have participated in ever since I was a child has been soccer. In soccer, a person has to be mentally engaged, a problem solver and be able to adapt. These are all skills needed to succeed intellectually and academically, as well. Soccer players often must watch film in order to study the opponents and create tactics to outsmart them. Understanding an opponents’ strengths and weaknesses takes much observation and analysis in order to come up with strategies to defeat your adversaries. This highlights the passion for discovery that many soccer players have, myself included. Mental curiosity plays a key role in pushing players to analyze their own games, professional games, and further their knowledge on the sport. As a soccer player, I also have to continue to learn how to adapt new techniques and styles of play into my game. This exemplifies my desire for new information in order to grow and improve as a player, which shows my interest in learning and bettering myself. Additionally, in a game scenario in soccer, I have to make quick, split-second decisions including where to pass, how to position myself, and where I should defend. These tasks require me to have fast critical thinking skills. Critical thinking and curiosity are closely linked to one another. Curiosity helps a person seek info and ideas and critical thinking helps to analyze the information gathered. My critical thinking skills gained from soccer will only help to improve upon the thirst for knowledge I already have. Furthermore, soccer is a team sport that requires a lot of communication and for me to have a good understanding of my teammates. As captain of my soccer team this year, I had to constantly understand the different perspectives and strengths of each of my teammates. This helped me adapt the way I communicated with each person, in order to make sure I completely understood everyone. By expanding my knowledge on my teammates, I have learned to work better with them, which helps me to coordinate with them quickly and effectively under pressure. Whether it’s interpreting non-verbal cues during a match or discussing strategy during a game or practice, my desire to learn and grow, not only intellectually, but as a person, helps my team's collaboration, which then helps our success. My curiosity strengthens the team and also aids in deepening my appreciation for the diverse perspectives of people. In soccer, I have learned that intellectual curiosity is key to growing as a person and as a player. Actively seeking ways to better myself not only enhances my performance on the field, but also helps to shape me to be a lifelong learner. Whether I am exploring new ways to improve in soccer or in the classroom, the opportunity to gain further knowledge drives me. This curiosity fuels me to continue to learn and to not only accept, but embrace challenges. In the future, I look forward to bringing this same mindset with me throughout my life.

Throughout the years I have had to set priorities in my daily life to excel academically. As a teenager, this has been challenging and sometimes not understood by my friends, but my education and success is very important to me. Academic excellence and a commitment to learning and knowledge is something that has always been important to me. Currently I am a senior in high school in Romeoville, IL. My GPA is 4.54 and I rank 8th out of 476 students in my class. I received the AP Scholar with Distinction Award due to my AP tests scores and the National African American Recognition Program award through College Board from my PSAT score. I plan to enroll into college in the Fall of 2025. My plan is to major in Exercise Science with a pathway to Physical Therapy. I sustained an injury last Fall during soccer, and I had to attend physical therapy sessions for a few months. After going through physical therapy, I was able to complete my Fall 2024 season with no pain or injuries. I was undecided on my major, but after getting a closer look at everyone that a physical therapist helps, I decided that I wanted to go in that direction for my career. Exercise Science/Physical Therapy is considered to be in the STEM field because of the heavy emphasis on science, research, and quantitative analysis. Currently only 5% of the Physical Therapists in the US are African American. Seeing diversity in this field of study is something that is important to me. I have been to multiple locations for Physical Therapy, and I have never seen as African American Physical Therapist or Physical Therapist Assistant. I currently live in the suburbs of Chicago and once I receive my DPT degree I plan to stay in Chicago. With the diversity in Chicago and the number of hospitals, clinics, and physical therapy facilities, I will be able to work with a diverse group of individuals on their way to recovery. I think it will also be important for my younger patients to see someone who looks like them. As a young African American male, this is something that is important to me. I have excelled academically throughout my high school career, and I am excited about the change that I will be able to make as a Physical Therapist as a minority. This scholarship will help me alleviate some of the financial commitments that I will have to make to continue my education and career goals.

Throughout the years I have had to set priorities in my daily life to excel academically. As a teenager, this has been challenging and sometimes not understood by my friends, but my education and success is very important to me. Academic excellence and a commitment to learning and knowledge is something that has always been important to me. Currently I am a senior in high school in Romeoville, IL. My GPA is 4.54 and I rank 8th out of 476 students in my class. I received the AP Scholar with Distinction Award due to my AP tests scores and the National African American Recognition Program award through College Board from my PSAT score. I plan to enroll into college in the Fall of 2025. My plan is to major in Exercise Science with a pathway to Physical Therapy. I sustained an injury last Fall during soccer, and I had to attend physical therapy sessions for a few months. After going through physical therapy, I was able to complete my Fall 2024 season with no pain or injuries. I was undecided on my major, but after getting a closer look at everyone that a physical therapist helps, I decided that I wanted to go in that direction for my career. Exercise Science/Physical Therapy is considered to be in the STEM field because of the heavy emphasis on science, research, and quantitative analysis. Currently only 5% of the Physical Therapists in the US are African American. Seeing diversity in this field of study is something that is important to me. I have been to multiple locations for Physical Therapy, and I have never seen as African American Physical Therapist or Physical Therapist Assistant. I currently live in the suburbs of Chicago and once I receive my DPT degree I plan to stay in Chicago. With the diversity in Chicago and the number of hospitals, clinics, and physical therapy facilities, I will be able to work with a diverse group of individuals on their way to recovery. I think it will also be important for my younger patients to see someone who looks like them. As a young African American male, this is something that is important to me. I have excelled academically throughout my high school career, and I am excited about the change that I will be able to make as a Physical Therapist as a minority. This scholarship will help me alleviate some of the financial commitments that I will have to make to continue my education and career goals.

Throughout the years I have had to set priorities in my daily life to excel academically. As a teenager, this has been challenging and sometimes not understood by my friends, but my education and success is very important to me. Academic excellence and a commitment to learning and knowledge is something that has always been important to me. Currently I am a senior in high school in Romeoville, IL. My GPA is 4.54 and I rank 8th out of 476 students in my class. I received the AP Scholar with Distinction Award due to my AP tests scores and the National African American Recognition Program award through College Board from my PSAT score. I plan to enroll into college in the Fall of 2025. My plan is to major in Exercise Science with a pathway to Physical Therapy. I sustained an injury last Fall during soccer, and I had to attend physical therapy sessions for a few months. After going through physical therapy I was able to complete my Fall 2024 season with no pain or injuries. I was undecided on my major, but after getting a closer look at everyone that a physical therapist helps, I decided that I wanted to go in that direction for my career. Currently only 5% of the Physical Therapists in the US are African American. Seeing diversity in this field of study is something that is important to me. This scholarship will help me alleviate some of the financial commitments that I will have to make to continue my education and career goals. This year I was chosen to be the captain of my soccer team, which is a sizable task. I had to lead my team and perform to the best of my ability to not disappoint them, not just as their captain but as their teammate. I also had the job of running several practices myself without our coach, where I had to keep everybody organized so we could complete the tasks that were given to us, which furthermore shows my commitment to being a good leader and teammate. My ability as a leader can also be transferred into the classroom which can help promote academic excellence for myself and other students. This season we ended with a record of 17-5-4, and we were not even projected to win 10 games. Although our season ended early, I am proud of both my team and myself for persevering through odds that were not in our favor and exceeding expectations. This perseverance that I showed during my soccer season directly translates to the classroom because if I am given a tough assignment, I will not give up on it. I will push through the adversity and finish my work. Furthermore, throughout the season I had to keep myself and my teammates motivated not only on the field, but also in the classroom to make sure everyone was eligible for games. I hold myself accountable to stay on top of my work, but I can also help others stay on task, which can help create a better community at the university that I choose if everyone is working as a unit to help each other.

I am student athlete, with heavy emphasis on the student. Throughout the years I have had to set priorities in my daily life to excel academically. As a teenager, this has been challenging and sometimes not understood by my friends, but my education and success is very important to me. Academic excellence and a commitment to learning and knowledge is something that has always been important to me. Currently I am a senior in high school in Romeoville, IL. My GPA is 4.54 and I rank 8th out of 476 students in my class. I received the AP Scholar with Distinction Award due to my AP tests scores and the National African American Recognition Program award through College Board from my PSAT score. This year I was chosen to be the captain of my soccer team, which is a sizable task. I had to lead my team and perform to the best of my ability to not disappoint them, not just as their captain but as their teammate. I also had the job of running several practices myself without our coach, where I had to keep everybody organized so we could complete the tasks that were given to us, which furthermore shows my commitment to being a good leader and teammate. My ability as a leader can also be transferred into the classroom which can help promote academic excellence for myself and other students. This season we ended with a record of 17-5-4, and we were not even projected to win 10 games. Although our season ended early, I am proud of both my team and myself for persevering through odds that were not in our favor and exceeding expectations. This perseverance that I showed during my soccer season directly translates to the classroom because if I am given a tough assignment, I will not give up on it. I will push through the adversity and finish my work. Furthermore, throughout the season I had to keep myself and my teammates motivated not only on the field, but also in the classroom to make sure everyone was eligible for games. I plan to enroll into college in the Fall of 2025. My plan is to major in Exercise Science with a pathway to Physical Therapy. I sustained an injury last Fall during soccer, and I had to attend physical therapy sessions for a few months. After going through physical therapy I was able to complete my Fall 2024 season with no pain or injuries. I was undecided on my major, but after getting a closer look at everyone that a physical therapist helps, I decided that I wanted to go in that direction for my career. Currently only 5% of the Physical Therapists in the US are African American. Seeing diversity in this field of study is something that is important to me. This scholarship will help me alleviate some of the financial commitments that I will have to make to continue my education and career goals.

In 2014 my dad was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. At that time, I was only 7 years old. Being so young, I didn’t understand what bipolar was and I had never heard of the term mental health. For multiple years I was witness to my dad ignoring the symptoms of his disorder, not taking his prescribed medicine, lying to doctors, looking at bipolar disorder as a weakness, and being very combative about the diagnosis. After a 2nd episode and almost losing his family, my dad finally decided to take control of his bipolar disorder. He currently takes medicine daily, writes in a journal so that he can manage any potential manic episodes, and sees a doctor multiple times a year. Going through this at such a young age and still dealing with it today helped me learn a lot about mental health and the importance of taking care of myself. I have always been a big believer in academic excellence and from a young age I have had a commitment to learning and knowledge. With that comes a lot of potential stress. Stress can lead to poor mental health. I have learned to manage my stress levels, and I talk to my parents a lot if things are bothering me so that they do not spiral or lead to other things like depression and anxiety. Because of my dad’s diagnose, mental health is a constant conversation in my house and my mom always tell me that, “it’s ok to not be ok.” So many people feel like they must be perfect or always be happy and that is just not realistic. Playing on my computer and watching funny videos helps me alleviate stress. Music is something else that I enjoy, and it helps with my stress level. My state (Illinois) implemented 5 mental health days/year for all students. My mom allows me to use these as needed and we have a conversation on why I needed the day. So far this school year I haven’t used any of them, but I am glad that our governor saw the need for this for all students in the state of Illinois. I will continue to advocate for my mental health and have conversations about mental health. I believe that a lot of people still look at mental health issues (bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, etc..) as being taboo, but I think that if more people openly spoke about mental health and their potential struggles that it would allow others to speak on their own battles or struggles. Currently I am a senior in high school in Romeoville, IL. My GPA is 4.54 and I rank 8th out of 476 students in my class. I received the AP Scholar with Distinction Award due to my AP tests scores and the National African American Recognition Program award through College Board from my PSAT score. I plan to enroll into college in the Fall of 2025. My plan is to major in Exercise Science with a pathway to Physical Therapy. I sustained an injury last Fall during soccer, and I had to attend physical therapy sessions for a few months. After going through physical therapy I was able to complete my Fall 2024 season with no pain or injuries. I was undecided on my major, but after getting a closer look at everyone that a physical therapist helps, I decided that I wanted to go in that direction for my career. Currently only 5% of the Physical Therapists in the US are African American. Seeing diversity in this field of study is something that is important to me. This scholarship will help me alleviate some of the financial commitments that I will have to make to continue my education and career goals.

In 2014 my dad was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. At that time, I was only 7 years old. Being so young, I didn’t understand what bipolar was and I had never heard of the term mental health. For multiple years I was witness to my dad ignoring the symptoms of his disorder, not taking his prescribed medicine, lying to doctors, looking at bipolar disorder as a weakness, and being very combative about the diagnosis. After a 2nd episode and almost losing his family, my dad finally decided to take control of his bipolar disorder. He currently takes medicine daily, writes in a journal so that he can manage any potential manic episodes, and sees a doctor multiple times a year. Going through this at such a young age and still dealing with it today helped me learn a lot about mental health and the importance of taking care of myself. I have always been a big believer in academic excellence and from a young age I have had a commitment to learning and knowledge. With that comes a lot of potential stress. Stress can lead to poor mental health. I have learned to manage my stress levels, and I talk to my parents a lot if things are bothering me so that they do not spiral or lead to other things like depression and anxiety. Because of my dad’s diagnose, mental health is a constant conversation in my house and my mom always tell me that, “it’s ok to not be ok.” So many people feel like they must be perfect or always be happy and that is just not realistic. Playing on my computer and watching funny videos helps me alleviate stress. Music is something else that I enjoy, and it helps with my stress level. My state (Illinois) implemented 5 mental health days/year for all students. My mom allows me to use these as needed and we have a conversation on why I needed the day. So far this school year I haven’t used any of them, but I am glad that our governor saw the need for this for all students in the state of Illinois. I will continue to advocate for my mental health and have conversations about mental health. I believe that a lot of people still look at mental health issues (bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, etc..) as being taboo, but I think that if more people openly spoke about mental health and their potential struggles that it would allow others to speak on their own battles or struggles. Currently I am a senior in high school in Romeoville, IL. My GPA is 4.54 and I rank 8th out of 476 students in my class. I received the AP Scholar with Distinction Award due to my AP tests scores and the National African American Recognition Program award through College Board from my PSAT score. I plan to enroll into college in the Fall of 2025. My plan is to major in Exercise Science with a pathway to Physical Therapy. I sustained an injury last Fall during soccer, and I had to attend physical therapy sessions for a few months. After going through physical therapy I was able to complete my Fall 2024 season with no pain or injuries. I was undecided on my major, but after getting a closer look at everyone that a physical therapist helps, I decided that I wanted to go in that direction for my career. Currently only 5% of the Physical Therapists in the US are African American. Seeing diversity in this field of study is something that is important to me. This scholarship will help me alleviate some of the financial commitments that I will have to make to continue my education and career goals.

In 2014 my dad was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. At that time, I was only 7 years old. Being so young, I didn’t understand what bipolar was and I had never heard of the term mental health. For multiple years I was witness to my dad ignoring the symptoms of his disorder, not taking his prescribed medicine, lying to doctors, looking at bipolar disorder as a weakness, and being very combative about the diagnosis. After a 2nd episode and almost losing his family, my dad finally decided to take control of his bipolar disorder. He currently takes medicine daily, writes in a journal so that he can manage any potential manic episodes, and sees a doctor multiple times a year. Going through this at such a young age and still dealing with it today helped me learn a lot about mental health and the importance of taking care of myself. I have always been a big believer in academic excellence and from a young age I have had a commitment to learning and knowledge. With that comes a lot of potential stress. Stress can lead to poor mental health. I have learned to manage my stress levels, and I talk to my parents a lot if things are bothering me so that they do not spiral or lead to other things like depression and anxiety. Because of my dad’s diagnose, mental health is a constant conversation in my house and my mom always tell me that, “it’s ok to not be ok.” So many people feel like they must be perfect or always be happy and that is just not realistic. Playing on my computer and watching funny videos helps me alleviate stress. Music is something else that I enjoy, and it helps with my stress level. My state (Illinois) implemented 5 mental health days/year for all students. My mom allows me to use these as needed and we have a conversation on why I needed the day. So far this school year I haven’t used any of them, but I am glad that our governor saw the need for this for all students in the state of Illinois. I will continue to advocate for my mental health and have conversations about mental health. I believe that a lot of people still look at mental health issues (bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, etc..) as being taboo, but I think that if more people openly spoke about mental health and their potential struggles that it would allow others to speak on their own battles or struggles.