Since I was young, I can remember playing putt-putt golf with my father. Sunday afternoons were always our times to put on our visors, sunglasses, shorts, and gloves to go out onto the course and challenge each other at what we know best. Golfing is a sport that embodies the art of challenge. In itself, golfing is an activity meant to push boundaries, challenge the body and mind, and build tangible energy within the holder of a golf club. This mind and body challenge makes golfing so enjoyable as a sport. There is more to be said about the art of golfing than the physical aspects. The sun shining on the perfectly emerald green fields and the riveting joy you feel while making a 50-yard putt are physical aspects that bring the player back every Sunday afternoon to play with friends and family. But the mentality that golfing gives you is something you carry with you as long as you do your golfing bag. That is where the real challenge comes along. Golfing can bring your mind to ease or begin a war of rage and retaliation. The art of becoming "good" at golfing starts with training both your swing and mind. As your mind becomes acquainted with this challenge, it becomes meditative. Golf is more than just "being the best."Golf is about being okay with mistakes and being compelled to challenge yourself the next time you pick up your club. As a woman passionate about golfing, I have overcome more mental challenges than I ever thought possible for a sport about hitting a ball into a hole. According to the National Golf Foundation, only around 25% of golfers are said to be women, which is a 14% increase since 2019. However, this does not stray from the fact that golfing is a predominantly male-dominated sport. That being said, I have faced multiple challenges as an overweight woman on the golfing course. Because of my looks, my weight, and my sex, I have been ridiculed and rejected from being on the course, despite having years of experience with my clubs. These complaints of an overweight woman on the playing field have only added to the mental challenges I face inside and outside the golfing course. The rage-inducing moments of only being inches away from the hole on par are only escalated further once the men who believe I should be elsewhere making lunch for my husband ridicule me for lacking the talent I know I possess. But the art of golfing is not about that. Golfing is about training your mind to ease into a near-meditative state while challenging yourself to improve daily, physically and mentally. These are the reminders I tell myself while out on the field, ridiculed or not. Because I do not play golf to appease others, I play golf to appease myself. Therefore, I believe I should be considered for the Samuel D. Hartley Memorial scholarship, not just for my passion and persistence in the field of golfing but to prove that I am more than what I am told out on the field. I am my father's daughter, and I am a woman of my own design. I am not just a woman in a male-dominated sport. I am a woman working to prove that I have a right to be in a male-dominated sport and change the norm for women such as me. Most of all, I pursue this sport to keep the passion that my father and I have for this sport alive, just as we did when I was young.

Golfing is a sport that embodies the art of challenge. In itself, golfing is an activity meant to push boundaries, challenge the body and mind, and build tangible energy within the holder of a golf club. This mind and body challenge makes golfing so enjoyable as a sport. There is more to be said about the art of golfing than the physical aspects of the sport. The sun shining on the perfectly emerald green fields and the riveting joy you feel while making a 50-yard putt are physical aspects that bring the player back every Sunday afternoon to play with friends and family. But the mentality that golfing gives you is something you carry with you as long as you do your golfing bag. That is where the real challenge comes along. Golfing can bring your mind to ease or begin a war of rage and retaliation against those who see you as inferior. The art of becoming "good" at golfing starts with training both your swing and your mind. As your mind becomes acquainted with the challenges of the heat, the mocking, and the mistakes, it becomes meditative. Golf is more than just "being the best."Golf is about being okay with mistakes of what could have been and being compelled to challenge yourself the next time you pick up your driver. As a woman passionate about golfing, I have overcome more mental challenges than I ever thought possible for a sport about hitting a ball into a hole. According to the National Golf Foundation, only around 25% of golfers are said to be women, which is a 14% increase since 2019. However, this does not stray from the fact that golfing is a predominantly male-dominated sport. That being said, I have faced multiple challenges as an overweight woman on the golfing course. Because of my looks, my weight, and my sex, I have been ridiculed and rejected from being on the course, despite having years of experience with my clubs. These complaints of an overweight woman on the playing field have only added to the mental challenges I face inside and outside the golfing course. The rage-inducing moments of only being inches away from the hole on par are only escalated further once the men who believe I should be elsewhere making lunch for my husband ridicule me for lacking the talent I know I possess. But the art of golfing is not about that. Golfing is about training your mind while challenging yourself to improve daily, physically and mentally. These are the reminders I tell myself while out on the field, ridiculed or not. Because I do not play golf to appease others, I play golf to appease myself.

I am one of ten grandchildren in my family. My grandmother (or Nana, as we call her) has seven grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, and one more great-grandchild on the way. What I have learned throughout the years is what the elderly value most in the world is company. Though my Nana has had five children, seven grandchildren, and three and a half great-grandchildren, I have remained one of her only sources of company ever since her husband died three years ago. Though she lives an hour away from my home, I make it a mission to spend the weekend at her house whenever I get off work before eight on Saturday night. With her, I do almost everything. We eat lunch together with friends at local restaurants, we find cooking competitions to watch together every week, and we bake every time I come over. To date, I am the only one in her family who knows the secret recipe for her community-famous wine cakes. To enrich the lives of our elders, we must take a step back to remember that these people get lonely as well. Quite possibly more often than us younger people do. Therefore, improving the lives of the elderly does not come from a machine or people on a screen. It comes from real human connection. Real human connection cannot be recreated by any form of media or literature, but instead comes from a loving family, friends, and even strangers. Some of our elders might not even have friends to rely on anymore. If I were to lose my Nana, I feel I would have lost a genuine friend in this life. And my heart feels for every friend my Nana has lost in her life. So don't let them lose a friend in you.