My name is Meghann Jones, I am a senior at Wachusett Regional High School in Holden, Massachusetts. I am on the varsity lacrosse and cross country team. I work as a hostess for Specialty Sandwich Co. in Holden. I have three younger sisters, we all grew up skiing and playing lacrosse. I am very family oriented and love to spend time with my sisters. In between my sports, work and family time I always try to volunteer. I volunteer at New England Disabled Sports (NEDS) at Loon Mountain in Lincoln, New Hampshire as a Pre-adaptive coach. Every day is different, I could be working with people of all ages and disabilities. Going into the program I expected every lesson to end with smiles and happy students, but I learned that working with people who have disabilities there can be some tough days. Some lessons ended short because a student would be so angry they refused to ski. It can be disheartening but at the end of the day our goal is to give the students the same opportunity as every other skier/snowboarder on the mountain, and if that means tantrums over putting on ski boots, then so be it. There is a stereotype that skiers with disabilities are hard to coach, or that we ski slowly and make little progress. This could not be more wrong. I skied with kids who could out-ski me any day of the week. I have also skied with kids who knew more about a car than Google, a young man who completed 10,000-piece puzzles with ease, and a teenage girl who was paralyzed from the waist down and now plays ice hockey for the junior USA Paralympic team. My goal in every lesson is to make an impact on the students' lives, whether it be helping them improve their skiing, being there as friends, or creating a more positive experience that they can relate to when thinking of the skiing community. I also volunteer for Wachusett Regional Girls Youth Lacrosse League. I am the head coach of the kindergarten- second grade team. The program has few coaches and known around the state to be one of the least successful youth programs. I wanted to change that. With my young girls, I created practice plans, managed the game schedule, and coached them throughout the spring. I remember when I first started lacrosse, it was the highschool coaches who inspired me to keep playing. I want to do the same for my girls. I coach them with a little toughness to keep them focused. I also coach them to empower them. I let the girls know it's ok to fail, I encourage trying new skills, hustle, and working hard. I made it a point to learn every one of their names, and a little about them to make them feel important and included. That year we finished as the most successful girls lacrosse team in the program. I am so proud of my girls and elated that all will be returning for next season. I plan to continue my volunteer career by hopefully volunteering with local girls lacrosse teams in the area of my college, New Rochelle, NY. I would love to continue my work with NEDS, unfortunately it being in New Hampshire and me going into college in New York I won't be able to volunteer as frequently. I greatly appreciate working with the disabled community and would love to stay involved, so in the summer I will try and work at NEDS with the summer sports like kayaking, biking, and archery rather than skiing.