Growing up I really struggled with my mental health, I went to doctors apon doctors and still had no answers. I finally after multiple years and lots of medication found something that worked for me. After that experience I feel I was able to give everything around me a second chance, I was more understanding and was able to reach out to someone if they looked like they were in need of help. Saying this it is important to note that it is not easy for anyone and it took me a long time to understand that. I feel my relationships with anything meaning humans, animals, or just my dailey out look on life has been changed for the better. While I do think it is better I also think I am now just seeing the negatives in everyones life, which helps me to connect but also shows me how the world really is. I now feel lucky for everyday, and continue to work with and for to help people with the struggles they go through. I also want to wish for everyone dealing with mental health to have a good journey with that they are going through, and hope they continue to stay possitve and hopeful.

My whole life I have tried to eat with my body in mind. During my freshman year of school I had random symptoms pop up which originated back to something I was eating. I contitued to try to eat healthy, and exersise. One morning during the spring semester I got a full body rash and went to the emergency room. I was told I had Lupus, and I needed to be careful with how I ate and how I treated my body. A few months later that diagnoses was taken back and I was diagnosed with celiac deises. Although my whole life I worked to be as healthy as possible I was diagnosed with an auto immunse illness that made my life harder by the day. I have sense cut out gluten and my life has been changed. I am able to get out of bed, go to the gym, and be the active person I once was. Learning I had celiac felt good and bad at the same time. One I was greatful I was feeling better, but on the other hand I felt that I let myself down because I had been eating so well for most of my life. In these passed few months there have been highs and lows. The highs being feeling like my best self, but the lows having a self hating mentallity because I can eat only few things. Although my life has changed I still am sad because activities that I once enjoyed I am no longer able to do. I can not grab food with my friends after school, go into new grociery stores and try new things, and last travel. I am aware I can do most of these things with a good amount of research but it has still been hard. Going off gluten has not only made my body feel better but also my mental health. There were days where I was so anxious I could not have a conversationg but sense going off gluten I enjoy everyday to the fullest and continue to be excited about my next. Saying all of this I think the takeaway is listening to your body. When you feel down try to figure out why. Make sure you are listened to and treated as equal. If you are not find a doctor who will treat you correctly. And do not stop trying until you feel taken care of.

I started playing soccer when I was three years old. I would run and run and run without any issues. I was a relatively normal kid; I loved playing outside, chasing ducks, and climbing trees. That changed one night while I was eating dinner with my family. I remember where I was sitting, what time it was, and what I was eating: 7:15 on a Tuesday evening, eating curry. Suddenly, I started coughing. I remember everything moving in slow motion. It went from coughing to slowly choking. My hands began to get really cold, and I felt very faint. I fell to the floor, not understanding what was happening. The next thing I remember was laying on an Urgent Care bed hoping I wasn’t dying. When the doctor came in, she had no idea what was happening to me. She said it might be this or that but never came to a real conclusion. What she finally said was that I had had an intense allergic reaction; she sent me home with an emergency inhaler and that was that. For the next three months I couldn’t laugh, eat, or be a normal kid because I had been so frightened. The only thing that kept me sane was playing soccer. Although every time I would run I would cough so hard that I would almost throw up, I still played soccer. Over the next three months it got harder and harder to keep it up. Finally, I went to an asthma specialist who was new to where I lived. After running tests, he ended up telling me I was suffocating from the inside out and if I hadn’t gotten it figured out I would have died. I was so scared when I heard that. I leaned to my mom and made her ask the one thing I cared about: could I still play soccer? I was extremely relieved when I got my yes answer, but I was told I would have to take it slow. Years later I am still dealing with some of the side effects of my asthma and the medicine I take for it, but I choose to work through them every day. Over the 15 years I’ve played soccer, I haven't always been the most fit player, or the most agile. But I stuck with it, and the hard work paid off when I was invited by the Florida Athletic Coaches Association to play in the state senior All-Star Game and when I was named my region’s All-Big Bend Player of the Year. And then, luckily for me, a school reached out to me that fits my goals and ambitions. Not only does Trinity Washington University have what I want academically, it also has a very good soccer team, which I will join this fall. Academically I am pursuing a career in politics, majoring in global affairs. My life goals are to hopefully be a politician one day and serve in the Florida State House, where I can apply all the lessons that playing soccer with acute asthma has taught me. One of those lessons is understanding that there are going to be challenges in everything you do, even the thing you love best. For example, there's still the compulsion to compare yourself to other players, especially players who don’t have to deal with asthma. There are still the struggles of thinking you're not good enough to do certain things. But being an athlete with asthma has taught me how to be grateful, and to fight for things that I believe in and love.

Giovanni Vitrano Memorial Scholarship Essay Submitted by Madeline Anne Chadé Kopka Growing up, every kid tries sports. Whether it is gymnastics, swimming, cross country, or soccer, almost all kids try them. Lucky for me, my first sport was soccer. I fell in love with the game immediately and have never stopped loving it. Playing soccer growing up was an escape from everyday life. It was an escape from homework and from any anxiety I faced at school--even personal problems. Although I ended up trying dance and other sports, soccer was the one I stuck with and that truly had a big impact on my life. I started playing soccer when I was three, playing around with other little kids my age just trying to get a foot on the ball. And now I am off to play college soccer in Washington, DC, at Trinity Washington University. Since I was little, playing college soccer has been my dream. But sometimes dreams only come true because of hard work: soccer has not always been easy. I was not always the most fit player, or the most agile. There were times when I struggled with anxiety, with acute asthma, and various injuries. But soccer taught me to stick with it, and the years of hard work paid off when I was invited by the Florida Athletic Coaches Association to play in the state senior All-Star Game and when, last month, I was named All-Big Bend Player of the Year for 2022. Then, luckily for me, a school reached out to me that fits my goals and ambitions. Not only does Trinity Washington University have what I want academically, it also has a very good soccer team. Academically I am pursuing a career in politics, majoring in global affairs. My life goals are to hopefully be a politician one day and serve the Tallahassee Community in the Florida State House, where I can apply all the lessons that playing soccer has taught me. The biggest lesson is understanding that there are going to be challenges in everything you do, even the thing you love best. For example, there's still the compulsion to compare yourself to other players. There are still the struggles of thinking you're not good enough to do certain things. But soccer has taught me how to be grateful, and to fight for things that I believe in and love. And it makes me work harder on any ideas and feelings that I believe in. Like imagine you are down 0-1 and there are ten minutes left in the match. You are going to work as hard as you can to get that one goal. I feel like all kids have that one story where you are even up one goal and there are two minutes left and you have to fight as hard as possible to win, and then you finally come out victorious after two of the longest minutes in the world. If I am fortunate enough to be awarded a Giovanni Vitrano Memorial Scholarship, in college I will continue to use soccer like I always have—as an escape from everyday pressures and a way to have fun. But even more important, playing college soccer will continue helping me recognize the importance of the game's lessons, that it is the hard experiences that you face that are life changing, and that make you a better person all together. Developing the true discipline required to play a sport in college might be harder than anything I have faced yet, but I am excited for and blessed to have this new challenge.