My long-term goal for the future is to become a successful entrepreneur. It’s important to me that I foster businesses that help people, honor my faith, and serve others. Growing up, I always had a creative mind, but during high school is when it really became something of importance. During my time in high school, my passion for creation, solving problems, and learning by doing only seemed to grow. Due to this, I will be attending Gordon College this fall where I will major in Business & Entrepreneurship. I want to learn the skills and knowledge I need to build and grow successful businesses so I can apply that into my workflow. I've already taken several steps toward this goal. In middle school, I turned my passion into a profitable online business, where I sold my music and reached 250,000 total plays through organic promotion, including YouTube and Google search results. These experiences taught me a lot about branding, marketing, customers, and never giving up. In the spring of 2025, I started my clothing brand, "Be the Light." I designed the clothing from scratch, built the website, created the ads, and managed the launch. My first campaign sold out in just one week. Even though the business made sales, I realized my costs were too high to make a healthy profit without raising prices higher than I thought was fair. Instead of continuing with a business that would not last, I decided to pause the brand until I learned more about running a business, marketing, and managing money. Over the next four years, my main focus will be finishing my degree while continuing to build businesses. Gordon College will give me the chance to learn from professors, take business classes, meet new people, and work with other students who have similar goals. Outside of class, I plan to keep learning about digital marketing, business strategy, AI in business, and leadership while using what I learn in real business projects. I will graduate with both a college degree and real business experience. I know that starting a business always comes with risk, but I believe I will succeed at whatever I put my mind to. Whether I restart my clothing brand, grow another online business, or start something completely new, my goal will always be to provide value to the world. College will give me the education, guidance, and opportunities I need to prepare for my future, and I'm committed to working hard to actualize my vision. I have been accepted into Gordon College for the fall, which is a faith-based university where all ideologies are embraced and welcomed. I will be studying Business and Entrepreneurship because I aspire to start my own company in the future. My goal is to create an inclusive business where everyone feels valued, regardless of their abilities. Earning my degree will help me be better equipped to actualize this vision, as I believe everyone deserves the opportunity to have a meaningful and fulfilling job. I want to construct an environment that helps people live up to their fullest potential, just as Gordon College will do for me. I will emulate the values they teach, such as fostering community, and helping individuals thrive to the best of my ability in order to create a better tomorrow.

On January 10th, 2008, a phone call from the Tanner Medical Center in Villa Rica, Georgia, to Woburn, Massachusetts, changed my life forever. My adoptive family drove 1,200 miles straight through the night to make me a Woburn Tanner for life. After a game of floor hockey in kindergarten, I became a lifelong hockey player, continuing through high school. At the same time, I ran on both the track and cross-country team, and held a part-time job at the local hockey rink. I played defense because my coaches taught me it was just as important to stop a goal and support my team as it was to score. Playing sports trained my mind to delay gratification, leading to results that come after consistent, prolonged effort, and to put others before yourself. The resilience to push through even when my lungs are full, my heart is pounding, and my legs feel heavy has helped me improve my focus, teaching me to stay consistent in all aspects of my life, especially in my academics and work. I graduated cum laude with a 3.82 GPA, taking honors and AP classes all four years at the Woburn Memorial High School. At the end of my senior cross country season, I was thrilled to find out that I had qualified to compete at the State Championship, which is the ultimate goal of any athlete. However, I was saddened to learn that a fellow teammate, who had been part of the team for all four years, had not qualified. My teammate, who is autistic, worked just as hard as everyone else, if not more, and I believed he deserved the spot far more than I. After a conversation with Coach Hunt, I made the decision to give my spot to him. I felt as if he was owed an opportunity he wouldn’t have received without me stepping aside, prioritizing his needs over my own. Having the chance to compete at the State Championship would have been an incredible memory, but I believe sharing this story is more meaningful than any medal I could have won. He was never told about my decision, I only mention it now to offer insight into my character as an athlete, teammate, and young man. This fall, I will be attending Gordon College, where I will major in Business & Entrepreneurship. I am pursuing college to continue my studies so I can acquire the skills to establish an inclusive environment where everyone feels valued, regardless of their abilities. My goal is to assist those in need and provide job opportunities for individuals who may not have had that chance before. I believe everyone deserves the opportunity to have a meaningful and fulfilling career, and I aim to foster a space that helps people reach their fullest potential, just as Gordon College will do for me. I will adopt and emulate the values they teach, such as fostering community and helping individuals thrive to the best of their abilities, to contribute to a better future. When I was 11, my life was shattered when my father abruptly walked out on my family. I now understand that what helped me during such a dark period of my life was the love and support from my hockey family, but most importantly, the unwavering strength of my mom. My mom works so many hours to support our family and I don’t think it is humanly possible for her to work any more. This scholarship would greatly ease the burden on my family and me.

My faith in Jesus Christ has been one of the most important parts of my life. It has helped me through some of the hardest times, giving me something to turn to when I felt like I had nowhere else to go. When I was 12 years old, my father suddenly left my family. No child should have to deal with that, especially those who are too young to understand their own feelings. As a result, I began questioning a lot about life and whether anything truly mattered. I remember feeling empty and unmotivated, which made it very hard to care about the things I used to enjoy. Over time, I started pulling away from others. For a long time, I didn't have close friends, which made me feel completely alone. At night, I began to pray more than I ever had before, asking God for guidance on how to reconnect with my friends. A few weeks later, as if it were a miracle, someone added me to a group chat called "Oozmakappa." At first, it didn't seem significant, but looking back now, it’s clear that God answered my prayer. To this day, the people in that chat are some of my closest friends. We’ve shared countless memories, and I look forward to creating many more. My faith has also taught me how to treat others with kindness. I know what loneliness feels like, and I understand what it's like to feel invisible. Because of that, I try to be someone who listens and encourages others, striving for excellence in school and in sports, and being there for others just as God has been there for me. I have been accepted into Gordon College for the fall, which is a faith-based university. I chose Gordon because of its dedication to excellence and its Christian environment. I will be studying Business and Entrepreneurship because I aspire to start my own company in the future. My goal is to create an inclusive business where everyone feels valued, regardless of their abilities. Earning my degree will help me become better equipped to bring this vision to life, as I believe everyone deserves the chance to have a meaningful career. To help lower tuition costs, I looked at schools in my home state of Massachusetts that offer in-state tuition and so I can commute. I’d love to go away and live on campus, but I’m trying to be responsible with the high costs of college, which will help me save money in the long run. My mom works many hours to support our family, and I don’t think she can work much more. This scholarship would be a big help for us. No matter what comes next, I trust that God will continue to guide me, just as He has before. When I look back on my life, I see moments that felt random at the time, but turned out to be some of the biggest blessings I've received.

I’ve been involved with Woburn Youth Hockey since I first stepped out on the ice at 4 years old. I played for 14 years with the Woburn Youth Hockey program, never representing any other team. Over the years, many coaches had reached out to me to join private teams, but I remained loyal to Woburn. What I appreciated most about playing with them was how inclusive the program was, never excluding anyone based on ability. Everyone had the same chance to play, which left no one behind. I learned the importance of accepting others for who they are, and while winning was nice, supporting my teammates was what truly mattered. Growing up, I played hockey with a teammate who always gave his best effort. As kids, we skated together for many seasons of youth hockey. However, as time went on, my teammate, whom we will call Tom, started to struggle. As we got older, Tom’s autism made it more difficult to keep up with the increased intensity of the sport. Unfortunately, this led him to make the decision to step away from the sport he loved. We would come together years later in high school, where we competed on the Woburn Memorial High School track and cross-country teams. At the end of my senior year of cross-country, I was excited to find out I had qualified to compete at the State Championship alongside six other varsity teammates, the ultimate goal for any athlete. As happy as I was for myself, I was also saddened to learn that Tom, a fellow senior who had been on the team all four years of high school, did not qualify. He worked just as hard as everyone else, if not more, so I had believed he earned the spot far more than I did. After some prayer, I approached our Coach before the announcement, because I decided to step aside, letting Tom have my spot. I felt he deserved an opportunity he might never have received, prioritizing his needs over my own. When my Coach announced the list of competitors heading to States, I'll admit that I wondered if I had made the right choice, but after seeing Tom and the team's excited reaction, I knew I had. No one was told about my sacrifice, I believe my decision gave him the chance he truly deserved for his consistent hard work each year. Competing at the State Championship would have been an incredible memory to look back on, but I believe telling this story is better than any medal I could have ever won. I graduated cum laude with a 3.82 GPA, as all throughout high school I took all honors and Advanced Placement classes. I pushed myself, on and off the field, to strive for excellence in everything I did; Cross-country, track, and hockey, while managing my academic studies with a part-time job, helping out at the local hockey rink. I have been accepted into Gordon College for the fall, which is a faith-based university where all ideologies are embraced and welcomed. I chose Gordon because of its commitment to excellence, as well as its Christian-based environment that aligns with my faith. I will be studying Business and Entrepreneurship because I aspire to start my own company in the future. My goal is to create an inclusive business where everyone feels valued, regardless of their abilities. Earning my degree will help me be better equipped to actualize this vision, as I believe everyone deserves the opportunity to have a fulfilling job. I want to construct an environment that helps people live up to their fullest potential, just as Gordon College will do for me. I will emulate the values they teach, such as fostering community and helping individuals thrive to the best of my ability to create a better tomorrow. To help reduce tuition costs, I looked at schools in my home state of Massachusetts for lower in-state tuition so that I would be able to commute. I would love to go away and live on campus, but I am trying to be financially responsible with the high costs of college which will help me save in the long run. When I was 11, my life was forever changed — not just by COVID, but by my father abruptly walking out on my family and never speaking to us again. No child should have to deal with that, especially those who aren’t old enough to understand their own emotions. However, the thing that helped me most during such a dark period of my life was the love and unwavering strength of my mom. She was suffering silently while putting my needs and my sister’s before her own, teaching us that when life knocks you down, you pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get back in the game called life. My mom continues to work many hours to support our family, and I do not think it is humanly possible for her to work anymore, so this scholarship would greatly help us.