In my life I’ve been faced with a lot of obstacles. I’ve done my best to always push through them and come out with a smile. One specific time I showed resiliency through a challenge was in February 2023. I have been an XC and track athlete for the past couple of years. This sport requires a lot of time, energy, and dedication to be good at it. It was the being of my spring track season and I had a feeling it was gonna be a very successful season. We had started training everyday. The snow was very intense and school had been cancelled for a snow day. I was at home that day when I started feeling very sick. I was dizzy, pale, and nauseous. My mom noticed and rushed me to the emergency room. They ran several tests and ended up finding that I had a heart arrhythmia. They were very concerned that my heart was having issues so they sent me over to primary children’s hospital. I spent the next 4 days in bed feeling awful and having tests run on me. The cardiologist released me after a few days but had decided that I needed to stop running to ensure I didn’t go into cardiac arrest. I was absolutely crushed, running was my whole life. It was very hard to not be allowed to do what I loved so much. I wanted to help support my team so I watched watch their practices and meets so I could cheer them on. A few months down the road I was allowed to ease back into running again! It was the end of the season so I only got to attend a few meets but I was so happy to be running again. The following summer I trained very hard to get my body back into shape for XC season. I was finally feeling back to my old self when my world got shattered again. My cardiologist called me and said the results of my heart monitor showed that my heart condition was becoming dangerous. To keep my heart from being damaged further I had to get surgery. This meant I was going to be pulled away from running again. I was terrified to get surgery because I knew that if something went wrong I could potentially never run again. I was told by my doctors that there was a 20% chance the surgery wouldn’t work and a risk that a hole could be punctured into my heart muscle. I tried my best to be brave and positive as I went in for surgery. Thankfully the surgery went well and my heart arrhythmia was gone. While I recovered I watched my team practice and tried to encourage them. I couldn’t run for the first two races but I came to cheer them on. Eventually I was cleared to go back to running after I had made a full recovery. I was very out of shape and it took a lot of work to get my health back to normal. My coach saw the work I was putting in and promoted me to team captain. Although I was a lot slower than my teammates I didn’t let that crush my spirits. I began racing again and slowly worked my way up. By the end of the season I was faster than I had ever been. I didn’t give up because of my circumstances and continued to work hard placing 1st at regionals. It proved to me that I should never give up just because I have a setback.

Volunteer service has taught me a lot about myself. It points out both my strengths and my weaknesses. I’ve for one thing learned that I love serving others. It really lifts me up to help people in need and gives me a good feeling whenever I do it. The work may be hard and strenuous but the happiness you see on the face of the person you helped makes it all worth it. My volunteer service has taught me that I am a hard worker. Even though the projects we are working on may be long and challenging I don’t give up. I always finish the work I started. Through volunteering I’ve also learned that sometimes it can really test my patience. At times I would like to see the results of my work much faster than they come. Service what I’ve learned is much dedication and sacrifice of time. My lack of patience is shown sometimes when working on a long project. In the end though I always stick it out and finish. I like to challenge myself and see how much I can accomplish. I’ve also seen that I am a very determined person. Two years ago I signed up with the group HXP to do a humanitarian aid trip down in Mozambique Africa. During the trip we would be building a women’s clinic to give the people down their access to medical help. I wanted to go on this trip so badly to help those who are not as fortunate as me. The only issue was that this trip was gonna cost me almost $4,000. I think most people wouldn’t think it’s worth giving up that much of your money essentially for free just to put yourself through grueling work. For me on the other hand, I wasn’t gonna let the fear of the cost stop me. I worked all summer to earn the money to go on this trip. I had to sacrifice many hours of doing what I wanted so that I could save up the money for my trip. In the end I stuck with it and was able to save earn enough money to go on this trip. It was well worth it and I was glad I stuck with it. My determination to serve pushed me through the long work hours. Overall my service has taught me that I am a dedicated and passionate person who will give up some of my time and luxuries to help others that are in need.

In my time playing volleyball I not only learned to love the sport but also learned a lot of life lessons. It’s taught me how to work hard especially on those days I feel like giving up. You have to get back up when you fall and come to practice even if you don’t feel like it. Doing this things equates to getting better. I’ve also learned from volleyball how to work with others. To make a successful play you have to get a bump set and spike. It requires you to make a plan with your team so that you can set up a good hit to shock the other team. If you’ve ever played one on one it’s so difficult to even get the ball over the net because you have to set it for yourself and then spike it. You can’t do it on your own which makes you realize that you need your teammates to be successful. Learning this important skill of being a team player is going to help me a lot in the success of my future career. I want to be a nurse and to be one you have to work with so many other people. You work with other nurses, specialists, and doctors all towards a common goal of helping your patients. The only way to succeed is to work together for the health of your patient. One thing I had to overcome was the fear of failure. When I first began to play volleyball I naturally was not very good. I couldn’t get my served to ever go over the net. Instead of trying to improve I would always try to avoid having to serve the ball. I didn’t wanna disappoint my team so I just ducked trying. When I began to get better and we did serving drills more and more I realized that I would have to overcome my fear of failure. I began to practice my serves more often even in front of my teammates. For a long time it was a little embarrassing that I couldn’t get my serves over but I kept trying. Eventually with lots of practice during games and drills I was able to improve. My serves were finally making it over the net and I had conquered my fear. I want to bring that knowledge of not being afraid of failure to my college career. Sometimes in school I might be scared for a test or not being able to be successful in my career. Now I know that I will never know if I don’t try. There’s always a chance for me to improve in a class or a test Overall this sport has impacted me in a big way and will help me in my schooling and career. The things I learned will translate to many aspects of my life in helping with my success.

I plan to make a positive impact on the world by entering the field of medicine. I’ve often wondered through my life what career I would like to pursue and I didn’t figure it out until I came into high school. I wanted to have a meaningful career that would be satisfying for not only myself but also help others in my community. Serving others has always been something I have wanted to incorporate in my daily life. I would like to go into sports medicine or nursing so that I can care for others and help them receive the proper help they need and deserve. I want to make sure that my patients feel my care and love for their health and safety. My interactions with kind health care workers has inspired me to care for others the way they do. When I was in Primary Children’s hospital at the beginning of this year for heart problems I had the most wonderful nurses. They made me feel comforted even though I was terrified with my current circumstances. I was constantly being asked if there was anything they could do to help me feel more comfortable or if I wanted to play games to uplift my mood. They spoke kindly to me and my family as they carefully explained what was going on. It was different from my interactions with other workers because I could tell that it was about more than just the money for them. Some people seemed so happy to be helping others in any way they possibly could. After that experience I knew I wanted to help other people feel the way I did at that time. The nurses were a light in my darkness of uncertainty and I felt calm under their care. I want to save lives not just by my medical care but also by bringing others hope and joy. I will be there for my patients in their time of confusion and sadness as I care for them. I can make a positive impact in their life as I care for those who need my help. If I can make someone smile or help their day be a little bit brighter I will feel so accomplished in my job. Seeing the happiness on my patient’s faces when I can tell them something exciting or make them life will be so rewarding. I plan to uplift and touch the lives of many people as I interact with them and tend to their needs.