Hello my name is Megan Miller. I have a passion for sports. Particularly Football, Basketball, and Soccer. Every chance I get I love playing or watching these sports. Currently, I am a starter on my high school soccer and basketball team. If my school would allow girls to play football, I would actually be playing that sport too. I can honestly say that I know more about the strategy and rules of these sports than most men do. In the middle of my 10th grade year in high school, I had to undergo a relatively major surgery on my spine. I had been suffering from my childhood with a form of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. My doctor and family had been monitoring it for years in hope that it would correct on its own but it never did. It was something that I prayed that I could put off until I was older but unfortunately, it was at a point that surgery was required. Just like that, my love and passion to play sports came to a halt. The surgery installed two x ten-inch rods and twenty-one screws into my spine. Clearly, I was out and not able to play any sports for an entire year. I worried further whether or not I would ever be able to play sports again. The only way to get back required a lot hard work after the surgery with physical therapy. I bonded right away with my physical therapist Harpreet Singh, PT. Through my therapist, I learned so much about orthopedics and spinal anatomy. I was able to experience first-hand what a therapist did in helping rehabilitate athletes like myself. This fueled my interest to research more about this profession. Since sports was out for me that year, I helped the team off the field by leading them in a community service program at a place called Shining Hope Farms. Through the help of my coach, we found this organization in Charlotte, North Carolina that was looking for volunteers. Shining Hope Farms is an organization that helps children with physical disabilities achieve functional goals with equine assisted activities and hippotherapy. At Shining Hope Farms, I further witnessed therapists working with kids with cerebral palsy disabilities and being able to heal them to a more improved state. The combination of both being healed through physical therapy and witnessing the improvement of kids at Shining Hope farms has solidified my dream to follow into the field of physical or occupational therapy. The power of improving either an athlete back to their potential or a person suffering from a physical disability would give me immediate self-satisfaction and fulfillment that I cannot imagine wanting to do anything else.

I was gifted enough to play high school varsity soccer and basketball starting back when I was in the 8th grade. The team viewed me inspirational at the time because of my talents at such a young age competing against those that were 3-4 years older. During my 10th grade, I was forced to undergo a major spinal fusion surgery which took me out of sports altogether for the entire basketball and soccer season that year. I struggled with the fact that I did not know if I was ever going to get back to the level of play that I was accustomed too. To get through this tough year I shifted my focus more on supporting the team from the sidelines. I helped the coaching staff by helping train the younger members on key plays and helped motivate the team by offering encouragement and advice. I was amazed how much more effective I was by helping lead the team this way. Instead of leading in baskets or goals, I was now leading and building a team that worked harder than ever before. Through the help and guidance of my coach in basketball, I found the team an organization that was in need of community service. It just so happened to be an organization that worked with kids with physical disabilities. The name of the organization was Shining Hope Farms in Charlotte. There I lead our team in a community service program who was in need of volunteers to work on a farm that supported youth with physical disabilities. Just having had spinal surgery that year it gave me a lot of enrichment in being able to work with kids with Cerebral Palsy. It was also was in a way therapy for me to because I was able to be able to contribute alongside with my basketball teammates. Today, as a senior in high school, I am back both on the field and the court playing sports again at my fullest potential. However, today we face a new challenge - Covid 19. I am not sure what kind of season we will ultimately have this year. I do know that despite the pandemic we are facing these days, there is a need more than ever for volunteer help at Shining Hope Farms. In summary, I find that I can be just as effective off the court/field vs. on the field. Scoring goals and hitting three pointers are great ways to rally and motivate my team. However, helping support my team off the field and helping kids who have a physical disability can be more powerful motivators in the end.