Who can say their school's football coach is their best friend and ultimate cornhole partner? I can and I am very thankful for my friend, Isaac. We started out as just family friends. He is also my substitute teacher and our school's football coach. One day I told him how much pain I was in. My knee and calves were bothering me a lot during cross country season. I told him how I did not want to let my team down, and I really wanted to be ready for the state meet. Isaac decided he would put in his time to help me. Being a football coach, he knew how to tape, so he taped my legs everyday before practices, which my cross country coach was thankful for, too. We got close and started knowing a lot about one another. One day, he told me how much his heart still hurt from losing his best friend two years prior. I didn't know how much pain he was in because he never showed it. He helped me get through my cross country season and that last state meet that I didn't think I could finish, so I wanted to help him, too. When he felt sad, I encouraged him to talk to me about it and not just keep it inside of him. Over time, Isaac has helped me be happy and healthy, and I have helped him accept the death of his dear friend. We have created a beautiful support system always being each others rocks when we need someone to talk to. Two very opposite people became best friends, and I am very thankful to count him in my blessings.

I have not encountered many bumps in the road of my life. I have been lucky to have a loving family, supportive friends, thrilling vacations, excellent health, an opportunity to play sports, and a faithful church. I have never thought about what would happen if I could not have some of those things because, quite frankly, I have not needed to. This year I, along with millions of other people, have faced very difficult times being in this global pandemic. It started off as a joyful celebration hearing school was getting an extra week of spring break. Slowly, it started getting worse and worse, though. I didn't get to finish my junior year, I didn’t get a prom, and I didn’t get to see my friends graduate. Soon, I didn't even have anything to look forward to. What started as being home for a week turned into a month, three months, and then finally to a point where there was not a final destination. My summer was supposed to be filled with a 4-H exchange trip to Texas, a school exchange trip to Germany, and my favorite week of the year at the fair. I have so much to look forward to and be happy about in my very eventful and wild life, but COVID-19 seemed to pause all of that. I was told I couldn’t see my friends. I couldn’t go to any places. I couldn’t practice with my sports teams. I couldn’t even go to church. When thinking about the future, it was all so gloomy and monotonous. I tried to make the most of it and even though that worked sometimes, it did not work all the time. I felt unproductive and lazy. I am still waiting for my “normal” life to come back to me. Everything has a limit, and there is nothing I can do to fix any of it. That is the worst part: I am not in control. I have been looking forward to going to MSU, not just to continue my education, but to have those helpful professors that I can consult, and to have tons of students I can connect with and share the same experiences with. I also look forward to taking the next step of learning, which is to be independent from my family and figuring things out myself. This virus has thrown out many of my visions of how this year was supposed to go, but I hope next year I am able to be my happy and outgoing self at MSU. This scholarship would help me become one step closer to being able to pay for my dream college.

I am Kiera, @kieragoward, and I have arguably the cutest dog, Oscar. My family got him at a pound while at cross camp. Right before we run our 5k, we take trucks up to the campground where our parents are to go to the bathrooms and find the starting line. My mom walked up to me with a little Oscar in her hands and it was exactly what I needed after some very sore days. We found out quickly that when he is in a chair, he likes sleeping on his back and to this day he still does.

"Kiera, do you have any ideas for spring break?" my mom called out to me. She plans our vacations out impeccably, so I was surprised she asked me for help planning our Florida trip. Later that night I was scrolling through Instagram and an ad made me stop and pause. It was a breathtakingly beautiful cenote, and I knew I wanted to experience it. I got details, directions, tickets, and everything else we did that day came to me too. This vacation I planned was eye opening to the world around; it was thrilling, adrenaline pumped, laughter filled, and BOLD!