Throughout my life, I have always been anxious or overthinking everything. I’d be anxious about school, living up to expectations, and trying to reach goals, but it would never work out, and as time went on the anxiety and overthinking got worse until I hit high school. Starting high school and automatically being designated the top tennis player on the varsity tennis team was very overwhelming, you have upperclassmen judging and bullying you, every expecting you to win, and when you don't meet those expectations then it hits you, it hits you hard. Your mind starts going everywhere and can take you to dark places. Throughout high school, I am constantly told how important grades are and that without good grades, you won’t get into college or get any scholarships. Hearing all of these different things doesn’t help someone with bad anxiety now, does it? By sophomore year Covid was at its peak and I was on my second tennis coach, he was a football coach but got the tennis position. He may not have known the physical aspects of tennis but on the mental side, he knew everything. Having someone take the time and sit down to explain mental blocks, people's expectations, and how your mind can affect how you play was a game changer. I have always felt everyone’s expectations weighing down on me, and always having to prove myself to my parents and everyone else was difficult. The anxiety got so bad that a week didn’t go back and I didn’t have an anxiety attack from being overwhelmed with everything. By Junior year I learned how to space out activities and try to plan out everything by the hour to try not to be overwhelmed, but in the end, if I got off my schedule I would panic and have an anxiety attack. I eventually got used to the feeling of showing up and eventually had people close to me notice when the anxiety was getting worse. These people started to notice the signs and would start to distract me from everything going on and it works to an extent. Junior, I made it to finals at the tennis district tournament and had family, friends, athletic directors, and the whole team watching. I was expected to win by everyone, so everyone's expectations including mine started weighing down and became very overwhelming. I had a teammate who noticed and took me aside to remind me of what my sophomore coach told me “No one else matters when you are playing. Only you can beat yourself and it is your mentality that will get you to lose, so let everything go and let your instincts kick in.” Those couple minutes gave me a clear mind and gave me enough strength to win the district tournament. Now I am in my senior year fixing to go to college, filling out as many applications as I can hoping to get scholarships. This year I am taking 3 college hours per semester, playing my last year of tennis, taking my last high school courses, and working at Velvin Oil. This year I realized that there are a couple of things to get me out of my head; going hunting, playing tennis for fun and not competition, and surprisingly creating ads and posters for companies. I figured out that doing these activities calms down my brain and helps with healthily relieving anxiety. Through all of these years, I have finally found a way to calm down my anxiety and even helped me figure out what I want to do in the future: marketing. I hope to continue to college and graduate with a bachelor's in business and marketing then go to a property management company. One day, depending on how the housing market looks, go into real estate. I hope that one day there won’t be the expectations there are now and that I can go through living a less stressful life.

Throughout my life, I have always been anxious or overthinking everything. I’d be anxious about school, living up to expectations, and trying to reach goals, but it would never work out, and as time went on the anxiety and overthinking got worse until I hit high school. Starting high school and automatically being designated the top tennis player on the varsity tennis team was very overwhelming, you have upperclassmen judging and bullying you, every expecting you to win, and when you don't meet those expectations then it hits you, it hits you hard. Your mind starts going everywhere and can take you to dark places. Throughout high school, I am constantly told how important grades are and that without good grades, you won’t get into college or get any scholarships. Hearing all of these different things doesn’t help someone with bad anxiety now, does it? By sophomore year Covid was at its peak and I was on my second tennis coach, he was a football coach but got the tennis position. He may not have known the physical aspects of tennis but on the mental side, he knew everything. Having someone take the time and sit down to explain mental blocks, people's expectations, and how your mind can affect how you play was a game changer. I have always felt everyone’s expectations weighing down on me, and always having to prove myself to my parents and everyone else was difficult. The anxiety got so bad that a week didn’t go back and I didn’t have an anxiety attack from being overwhelmed with everything. By Junior year I learned how to space out activities and try to plan out everything by the hour to try not to be overwhelmed, but in the end, if I got off my schedule I would panic and have an anxiety attack. I eventually got used to the feeling of showing up and eventually had people close to me notice when the anxiety was getting worse. These people started to notice the signs and would start to distract me from everything going on and it works to an extent. Junior, I made it to finals at the tennis district tournament and had family, friends, athletic directors, and the whole team watching. I was expected to win by everyone, so everyone's expectations including mine started weighing down and became very overwhelming. I had a teammate who noticed and took me aside to remind me of what my sophomore coach told me “No one else matters when you are playing. Only you can beat yourself and it is your mentality that will get you to lose, so let everything go and let your instincts kick in.” Those couple minutes gave me a clear mind and gave me enough strength to win the district tournament. Now I am in my senior year fixing to go to college, filling out as many applications as I can hoping to get scholarships. This year I am taking 3 college hours per semester, playing my last year of tennis, taking my last high school courses, and working at Velvin Oil. This year I realized that there are a couple of things to get me out of my head; going hunting, playing tennis for fun and not competition, and surprisingly creating ads and posters for companies. I figured out that doing these activities calms down my brain and helps with healthily relieving anxiety. Through all of these years, I have finally found a way to calm down my anxiety and even helped me figure out what I want to do in the future: marketing. I hope to continue to college and graduate with a bachelor's in business and marketing then go to a property management company. One day, depending on how the housing market looks, go into real estate. I hope that one day there won’t be the expectations there are now and that I can go through living a less stressful life.

Throughout my life, I have always been anxious or overthinking everything. I’d be anxious about school, living up to expectations, and trying to reach goals, but it would never work out, and as time went on the anxiety and overthinking got worse until I hit high school. Starting high school and automatically being designated the top tennis player on the varsity tennis team was very overwhelming, you have upperclassmen judging and bullying you, every expecting you to win, and when you don't meet those expectations then it hits you, it hits you hard. Your mind starts going everywhere and can take you to dark places. Throughout high school, I am constantly told how important grades are and that without good grades, you won’t get into college or get any scholarships. Hearing all of these different things doesn’t help someone with bad anxiety now, does it? By sophomore year Covid was at its peak and I was on my second tennis coach, he was a football coach but got the tennis position. He may not have known the physical aspects of tennis but on the mental side, he knew everything. Having someone take the time and sit down to explain mental blocks, people's expectations, and how your own mind can affect how you play was a game changer. I have always felt everyone’s expectations weighing down on me, and always having to prove myself to my parents and everyone else was difficult. The anxiety got so bad that a week didn’t go back and I didn’t have an anxiety attack from being overwhelmed with everything. By Junior year I learned how to space out activities and try to plan out everything by the hour to try not to be overwhelmed, but in the end, if I got off my schedule I would panic and have an anxiety attack. I eventually got used to the feeling of showing up and eventually had people close to me notice when the anxiety was getting worse. These people started to notice the signs and would start to distract me from everything going on and it works to an extent. Junior, I made it to finals at the tennis district tournament and had family, friends, athletic directors, and the whole team watching. I was expected to win by everyone, so everyone's expectations including mine started weighing down and became very overwhelming. I had a teammate who noticed and took me aside to remind me of what my sophomore coach told me “No one else matters when you are playing. Only you can beat yourself and it is your mentality that will get you to lose, so let everything go and let your instincts kick in.” Those couple minutes gave me a clear mind and gave me enough strength to win the district tournament. Through all of these years, I have finally found a way to calm down my anxiety and even helped me figure out what I want to do in the future: marketing. I hope to continue to college and graduate with a bachelor's in business and marketing then go to a property management company. One day, depending on how the housing market looks, go into real estate. I hope that one day there won’t be the expectations there are now and that I can go through living a less stressful life.

Throughout my life, I have always been anxious or overthinking everything. I’d be anxious about school, living up to expectations, and trying to reach goals, but it would never work out, and as time went on the anxiety and overthinking got worse until I hit high school. Starting high school and automatically being designated the top tennis player on the varsity tennis team was very overwhelming, you have upperclassmen judging and bullying you, every expecting you to win, and when you don't meet those expectations then it hits you, it hits you hard. Your mind starts going everywhere and can take you to dark places. Throughout high school, I am constantly told how important grades are and that without good grades, you won’t get into college or get any scholarships. Hearing all of these different things doesn’t help someone with bad anxiety now, does it? By sophomore year Covid was at its peak and I was on my second tennis coach, he was a football coach but got the tennis position. He may not have known the physical aspects of tennis but on the mental side, he knew everything. Having someone take the time and sit down to explain mental blocks, people's expectations, and how your own mind can affect how you play was a game changer. I have always felt everyone’s expectations weighing down on me, and always having to prove myself to my parents and everyone else was difficult. The anxiety got so bad that a week didn’t go back and I didn’t have an anxiety attack from being overwhelmed with everything. By Junior year I learned how to space out activities and try to plan out everything by the hour to try not to be overwhelmed, but in the end, if I got off my schedule I would panic and have an anxiety attack. I eventually got used to the feeling of showing up and eventually had people close to me notice when the anxiety was getting worse. These people started to notice the signs and would start to distract me from everything going on and it works to an extent. Junior, I made it to finals at the tennis district tournament and had family, friends, athletic directors, and the whole team watching. I was expected to win by everyone, so everyone's expectations including mine started weighing down and became very overwhelming. I had a teammate who noticed and took me aside to remind me of what my sophomore coach told me “No one else matters when you are playing. Only you can beat yourself and it is your mentality that will get you to lose, so let everything go and let your instincts kick in.” Those couple minutes gave me a clear mind and gave me enough strength to win the district tournament. Through all of these years, I have finally found a way to calm down my anxiety and even helped me figure out what I want to do in the future: marketing. I hope to continue to college and graduate with a bachelor's in business and marketing then go to a property management company. One day, depending on how the housing market looks, go into real estate. I hope that one day there won’t be the expectations there are now and that I can go through living a less stressful life.

Throughout my life, I have always been anxious or overthinking everything. I’d be anxious about school, living up to expectations, and trying to reach goals, but it would never work out, and as time went on the anxiety and overthinking got worse until I hit high school. Starting high school and automatically being designated the top tennis player on the varsity tennis team was very overwhelming, you have upperclassmen judging and bullying you, every expecting you to win, and when you don't meet those expectations then it hits you, it hits you hard. Your mind starts going everywhere and can take you to dark places. Throughout high school, I am constantly told how important grades are and that without good grades, you won’t get into college or get any scholarships. Hearing all of these different things doesn’t help someone with bad anxiety now, does it? By sophomore year Covid was at its peak and I was on my second tennis coach, he was a football coach but got the tennis position. He may not have known the physical aspects of tennis but on the mental side, he knew everything. Having someone take the time and sit down to explain mental blocks, people's expectations, and how your own mind can affect how you play was a game changer. I have always felt everyone’s expectations weighing down on me, and always having to prove myself to my parents and everyone else was difficult. The anxiety got so bad that a week didn’t go back and I didn’t have an anxiety attack from being overwhelmed with everything. By Junior year I learned how to space out activities and try to plan out everything by the hour to try not to be overwhelmed, but in the end, if I got off my schedule I would panic and have an anxiety attack. I eventually got used to the feeling of showing up and eventually had people close to me notice when the anxiety was getting worse. These people started to notice the signs and would start to distract me from everything going on and it works to an extent. Junior, I made it to finals at the tennis district tournament and had family, friends, athletic directors, and the whole team watching. I was expected to win by everyone, so everyone's expectations including mine started weighing down and became very overwhelming. I had a teammate who noticed and took me aside to remind me of what my sophomore coach told me “No one else matters when you are playing. Only you can beat yourself and it is your mentality that will get you to lose, so let everything go and let your instincts kick in.” Those couple minutes gave me a clear mind and gave me enough strength to win the district tournament. Through all of these years, I have finally found a way to calm down my anxiety and even helped me figure out what I want to do in the future: marketing. I hope to continue to college and graduate with a bachelor's in business and marketing then go to a property management company. One day, depending on how the housing market looks, go into real estate. I hope that one day there won’t be the expectations there are now and that I can go through living a less stressful life.

Making a difference refers to someone making a positive impact on the world around them; that being said, a person doesn’t have to “change the world” to make a difference, but they can make a difference within their community. Out of the thousands of ways people can make a difference in the world around them, I choose to volunteer where I can to make a positive impact. I am currently a senior in high school and have accumulated over 130 hours through community service and volunteer work. Those hours have been earned through various organizations such as; Interact Club, Key Club, Rotary Club, National Honor Society, and other non-profit organizations. The differences I have made and want to continue to make are based on personal values and morals, whether it be helping an organization by being an extra hand when needed, cleaning up the side of roads, or helping create fundraisers for organizations in need, all of it has not only been beneficial for the organization, but it also made a difference for me. I have always been a kid involved in activities, whether it be in sports or clubs. Through FFA, I became a Longview District officer, and, in that position, my team and I were able to raise hundreds of items to donate to a charity for children and participate in the fundraiser the Area officers held for Hangers for Hope. Through being President of Interact Club, I have been able to serve food to our community, help touch up my school, and help coordinate the blood drives that happen at the high school. In sports, I have taught children tennis in camps and private lessons. All of these activities helped make a difference, whether it was an organization, building, or a group of people. Taking part in activities around my community is how I try to make a difference, and I don’t want those activities to stop after high school; that is why I will be joining organizations at Tarleton State University that do volunteer work around the campus and community. While the differences I make are not changing the world, they are helping change my community and the people in it. I can continue volunteering for different organizations in and around my community in hopes that even though I am not solving world peace or finding the cure to cancer, I am doing at least one activity at a time to help those around me. That is how I plan to continue making a difference; by volunteering for those in my surrounding area, no matter where I live.

Throughout my life, I have always been anxious or overthinking everything. I’d be anxious about school, living up to expectations, and trying to reach goals, but it would never work out, and as time went on the anxiety and overthinking got worse until I hit high school. Starting high school and automatically being designated the top tennis player on the varsity tennis team was very overwhelming, you have upperclassmen judging and bullying you, every expecting you to win, and when you don't meet those expectations then it hits you, it hits you hard. Your mind starts going everywhere and can take you to dark places. Throughout high school, I am constantly told how important grades are and that without good grades, you won’t get into college or get any scholarships. Hearing all of these different things doesn’t help someone with bad anxiety now, does it? By sophomore year Covid was at its peak and I was on my second tennis coach, he was a football coach but got the tennis position. He may not have known the physical aspects of tennis but on the mental side, he knew everything. Having someone take the time and sit down to explain mental blocks, people's expectations, and how your own mind can affect how you play was a game changer. I have always felt everyone’s expectations weighing down on me, and always having to prove myself to my parents and everyone else was difficult. The anxiety got so bad that a week didn’t go back and I didn’t have an anxiety attack from being overwhelmed with everything. By Junior year I learned how to space out activities and try to plan out everything by the hour to try not to be overwhelmed, but in the end, if I got off my schedule I would panic and have an anxiety attack. I eventually got used to the feeling of showing up and eventually had people close to me notice when the anxiety was getting worse. These people started to notice the signs and would start to distract me from everything going on and it works to an extent. Junior, I made it to finals at the tennis district tournament and had family, friends, athletic directors, and the whole team watching. I was expected to win by everyone, so everyone's expectations including mine started weighing down and became very overwhelming. I had a teammate who noticed and took me aside to remind me of what my sophomore coach told me “No one else matters when you are playing. Only you can beat yourself and it is your mentality that will get you to lose, so let everything go and let your instincts kick in.” Those couple minutes gave me a clear mind and gave me enough strength to win the district tournament. Through all of these years, I have finally found a way to calm down my anxiety and even helped me figure out what I want to do in the future: marketing. I hope to continue to college and graduate with a bachelor's in business and marketing then go to a property management company. One day, depending on how the housing market looks, go into real estate. I hope that one day there won’t be the expectations there are now and that I can go through living a less stressful life.

Making a difference refers to someone making a positive impact on the world around them; that being said, a person doesn’t have to “change the world” to make a difference, but they can make a difference within their community. Out of the thousands of ways people can make a difference in the world around them, I choose to volunteer where I can to make a positive impact. I am currently a senior in high school and have accumulated over 130 hours through community service and volunteer work. Those hours have been earned through various organizations such as; Interact Club, Key Club, Rotary Club, National Honor Society, and other non-profit organizations. The differences I have made and want to continue to make are based on personal values and morals, whether it be helping an organization by being an extra hand when needed, cleaning up the side of roads, or helping create fundraisers for organizations in need, all of it has not only been beneficial for the organization, but it also made a difference for me. I have always been a kid involved in activities, whether it be in sports or clubs. Through FFA, I became a Longview District officer, and, in that position, my team and I were able to raise hundreds of items to donate to a charity for children and participate in the fundraiser the Area officers held for Hangers for Hope. Through being President of Interact Club, I have been able to serve food to our community, help touch up my school, and help coordinate the blood drives that happen at the high school. In sports, I have taught children tennis in camps and private lessons. All of these activities helped make a difference, whether it was an organization, building, or a group of people. Taking part in activities around my community is how I try to make a difference, and I don’t want those activities to stop after high school; that is why I will be joining organizations at Tarleton State University that do volunteer work around the campus and community. While the differences I make are not changing the world, they are helping change my community and the people in it. I can continue volunteering for different organizations in and around my community in hopes that even though I am not solving world peace or finding the cure to cancer, I am doing at least one activity at a time to help those around me. That is how I plan to continue making a difference; by volunteering for those in my surrounding area, no matter where I live.

Making a difference refers to someone making a positive impact on the world around them; that being said, a person doesn’t have to “change the world” to make a difference, but they can make a difference within their community. Out of the thousands of ways people can make a difference in the world around them, I choose to volunteer where I can to make a positive impact. I am currently a senior in high school and have accumulated over 130 hours through community service and volunteer work. Those hours have been earned through various organizations such as; Interact Club, Key Club, Rotary Club, National Honor Society, and other non-profit organizations. The differences I have made and want to continue to make are based on personal values and morals, whether it be helping an organization by being an extra hand when needed, cleaning up the side of roads, or helping create fundraisers for organizations in need, all of it has not only been beneficial for the organization, but it also made a difference for me. I have always been a kid involved in activities, whether it be in sports or clubs. Through FFA, I became a Longview District officer, and, in that position, my team and I were able to raise hundreds of items to donate to a charity for children and participate in the fundraiser the Area officers held for Hangers for Hope. Through being President of Interact Club, I have been able to serve food to our community, help touch up my school, and help coordinate the blood drives that happen at the high school. In sports, I have taught children tennis in camps and private lessons. All of these activities helped make a difference, whether it was an organization, building, or a group of people. Taking part in activities around my community is how I try to make a difference, and I don’t want those activities to stop after high school; that is why I will be joining organizations at Tarleton State University that do volunteer work around the campus and community. While the differences I make are not changing the world, they are helping change my community and the people in it. I can continue volunteering for different organizations in and around my community in hopes that even though I am not solving world peace or finding the cure to cancer, I am doing at least one activity at a time to help those around me. That is how I plan to continue making a difference; by volunteering for those in my surrounding area, no matter where I live.

Making a difference refers to someone making a positive impact on the world around them; that being said, a person doesn’t have to “change the world” to make a difference, but they can make a difference within their community. Out of the thousands of ways people can make a difference in the world around them, I choose to volunteer where I can to make a positive impact. I am currently a senior in high school and have accumulated over 130 hours through community service and volunteer work. Those hours have been earned through various organizations such as; Interact Club, Key Club, Rotary Club, National Honor Society, and other non-profit organizations. The differences I have made and want to continue to make are based on personal values and morals, whether it be helping an organization by being an extra hand when needed, cleaning up the side of roads, or helping create fundraisers for organizations in need, all of it has not only been beneficial for the organization, but it also made a difference for me. I have always been a kid involved in activities, whether it be in sports or clubs. Through FFA, I became a Longview District officer, and, in that position, my team and I were able to raise hundreds of items to donate to a charity for children and participate in the fundraiser the Area officers held for Hangers for Hope. Through being President of Interact Club, I have been able to serve food to our community, help touch up my school, and help coordinate the blood drives that happen at the high school. In sports, I have taught children tennis in camps and private lessons. All of these activities helped make a difference, whether it was an organization, building, or a group of people. Taking part in activities around my community is how I try to make a difference, and I don’t want those activities to stop after high school; that is why I will be joining organizations at Tarleton State University that do volunteer work around the campus and community. While the differences I make are not changing the world, they are helping change my community and the people in it. I can continue volunteering for different organizations in and around my community in hopes that even though I am not solving world peace or finding the cure to cancer, I am doing at least one activity at a time to help those around me. That is how I plan to continue making a difference; by volunteering for those in my surrounding area, no matter where I live.