My dream is to buy land and retire and live off the land with my family and teach my children the skills that I grew up with, skills that are almost never found in our society anymore. I want to use my skills to help those around me and teach people how to take care of themselves. I will use my ranch as a summer camp for teens and young adults to learn basic skills like gardening, welding, woodworking and more. I always loved working in the wood shop with my dad and his dad. I want to make these skills common again so that more families can enjoy this experience. I want to teach gardening and animal husbandry, so that people can know where their food comes from and not be completely dependent on grocery stores. I want to give people who have never gone hunting the opportunity to hunt; then to clean, butcher, and process their own food. I want to help people who want fresh eggs, fresh milk, and fresh vegetables, but have no clue where to start. I want people to know that they don't have to be trapped in the system. I want to build a community around living simply and healthy. Before I can start on my long-term goals, I have to get my feet under me first. I need to make it through college and be able to start working in order to make money. I need to make money in order to save money or give it away. This upcoming semester, I am taking six in-person, skill-based classes for a total of about twenty units, and 9 hours in school during a twelve-hour day. I will not have time to work enough to pay my bills. I do not get money from my parents or extended family, and I am now completely financially alone. This scholarship will help me to graduate from college debt-free, and get a head start on life. I am scheduled to graduate college one semester before my first brother graduates high school. My family already gave everything they could to get me this far in college with the understanding that I will help my brother get started in school. I am the oldest child of five kids, and it is my responsibility to pave the way for the next to enter college. Please consider me and my present and future family when making your final decisions. My plan is to work in a fabricating/manufacturing shop right out of college for a few years until I can save up enough money to start my own. I want to work in a shop environment building projects out of metal. I love working with my hands and have always enjoyed seeing a project come together. I want to work in my own shop until I decide to retire. I plan to use this career to better myself and support a family.

In my senior year, I started to seriously consider what I wanted my career path to be. I knew I didn’t want to work in an office anywhere, so I looked into the trades. I had worked in many fields in my different summer jobs over the years, and decided that welding paid the best of the industries that I was familiar with. I ended up visiting a few trade schools and community colleges and picked one that had the best reputation and gave me an opportunity for an associate’s degree if I decided to get one. I have now been at this school for a year, and I’m almost done with my welding certification. I have changed my plan to include manufacturing and fabrication as well as welding. My plan is to work in a fabricating/manufacturing shop right out of college for a few years until I can save up enough money to start my own. I love working with my hands and have always enjoyed seeing a project come together. I want to work in my own shop until I decide to retire. I plan to use this career to better myself and support my family. My retirement project will be to have a ranch where teens and young adults can come to learn about necessary life skills and how to be an honest, hardworking adult in today's fast money culture. I will teach Biblical wisdom and ancient truth that still applies today. I will teach money management, food production and other dying knowledge and try to inspire common sense and common courtesy in the young adults who come after me. Before I can start on my long-term goals, I have to get my feet under me first. I need to make it through college and be able to start working in order to make money. I need to make money in order to save money or give it away. This upcoming semester, I am taking six in-person, skill-based classes for a total of about twenty units, and 9 hours in school during a twelve-hour day. I will not have enough time to work to pay my bills. I do not get money from my parents or extended family, and I am now completely financially alone. This scholarship will help me to graduate from college debt-free, and get a head start on life. I am scheduled to graduate college one semester before my first brother graduates high school. My family already gave everything they could to get me this far in college with the understanding that I will help my brother get started in school. I am the oldest child of five kids, and it is my responsibility to pave the way for the next to enter college. Please consider me and my present and future family when making your final decisions.

My plan is to work in a fabricating/manufacturing shop right out of college for a few years until I can save up enough money to start my own. I want to work in a shop environment building projects out of metal. I love working with my hands and have always enjoyed seeing a project come together. I want to work in my own shop until I decide to retire. I plan to use this career to better myself and support a family. Eventually, I want to buy land and retire and live off the land with my family and teach my children the skills that I grew up with, skills that are almost never found in our society anymore. I want to use my skills to help those around me and teach people how to take care of themselves. I will use my ranch as a summer camp for teens and young adults to learn basic skills like gardening, welding, woodworking and more. I always loved working in the woodshop with my dad and his dad. I want to make these skills common again so that more families can enjoy this experience. I want to teach gardening and animal husbandry, so that people can know where their food comes from and not be completely dependent on grocery stores. I want to give people who have never gone hunting the opportunity to hunt; then to clean, butcher, and process their own food. I want to help people who want fresh eggs, fresh milk, and fresh vegetables, but have no clue where to start. I want people to know that they don't have to be trapped in the system. I want to build a community around living simply and healthy. Before I can start on my long-term goals, I have to get my feet under me first. I need to make it through college and be able to start working in order to make money. I need to make money in order to save money or give it away. This upcoming semester, I am taking six in-person, skill-based classes for a total of about twenty units, and 9 hours in school during a twelve-hour day. I will not have time to work enough to pay my bills. I do not get money from my parents or extended family, and I am now completely financially alone. This scholarship will help me to graduate from college debt-free, and get a head start on life. I am scheduled to graduate college one semester before my first brother graduates high school. My family already gave everything they could to get me this far in college with the understanding that I will help my brother get started in school. I am the oldest child of five kids, and it is my responsibility to pave the way for the next to enter college. Please consider me and my present and future family when making your final decisions.

Growing up, my family raised and hunted most of what we ate or grew it in our garden. We had enough money to get by, but because we didn’t have much money, if we wanted something (like a fence or a barn) we had to build it ourselves. When I was about ten, we had just moved, and needed to put up a fence, but dad couldn’t do it himself. He taught me to weld that summer on a pipe rail fence. By the time I got to high school, I was looking for a job. My school had just started a program for students to work part time on the maintenance and cleaning staff. I applied to the program and easily got the job. During the school year, I worked in maintenance occasionally, but during the breaks I worked on large improvement projects for the school. I was the only person on the maintenance staff who could weld. I ended up working as a welder throughout high school. I did maintenance and construction for athletics and some of our school’s other facilities. In my senior year, I started to seriously consider my career path. I knew I didn’t want to work in an office anywhere, so I started looking at trades. I had worked in many fields in my different summer jobs over the years, and decided that welding paid the best of the industries that I was familiar with. I ended up visiting a few trade schools and community colleges and picked one with the best reputation and gave me an opportunity for an associate’s degree if I decided to get one. I have now been at this school for a year, and I’m almost done with my welding certification. I have changed my plan to include manufacturing and fabrication as well as welding. My plan is to work in a fabricating or manufacturing shop for a few years until I can save up enough money to start my own. I love working with my hands and I’ve always enjoyed seeing a project come together. I want to work in my own shop until I decide to retire. I plan to use this career to better myself and support a family. Eventually, I want to buy land and retire and live off the land with my family and teach my children the skills that I grew up with, skills that are almost never found in our society anymore. I want to use my guess and my skills to help those around me and teach people how to take care of themselves. I want to use my ranch as summer camp for teens and young adults to learn, basics skills like gardening, welding, woodworking, and other skills that are not found in schools anymore. I always loved working in the woodshop with my grandfather. Sometimes my dad would come by and work with us. I want to make these skills common again so that more families can have this experience. I want to teach gardening and animal husbandry, so people won’t be as detached from their food as they are today. I want to give people who have never gone hunting the opportunity to go hunting and to clean, butcher, and process their own food. I want to help people who want fresh eggs and fresh milk, and fresh vegetables, but have no clue where to start. I want people who are trapped in the system, I want to build a community around health and living simply.

My plan is to work in a fabricating or manufacturing shop for at least a few years until I can save up enough money to start my own. I want to work in a shop environment building various projects out of metal. I love working with my hands and I’ve always enjoyed seeing a project come together. I want to work in my own shop until I decide to retire. I plan to use this career to better myself and support a family. Eventually, I want to buy land and retire and live off the land with my family and teach my children the skills that I grew up with. The same skills that are almost never found in our society anymore. I went to use my guess and my skills to help those around me and teach people how to take care of themselves. I want to use my ranch as a for the summer camp for teens and young adults to learn, basics skills like gardening and welding and woodworking and, all these things that are not done in school anymore. I always loved working in the woodshop with my grandfather. Sometimes my dad would come by and work with us. I want to make these skills common again so that more families can have this experience. I want to teach gardening and animal husbandry, so that people know they don’t have to be as detached from their food as they are today. I want to teach these skills so people can eat healthier and not be as dependent on grocery stores. I want to give people who have never gone hunting the opportunity to go hunting and to clean butcher and process their own food. I want to help people who want fresh eggs and fresh milk, and fresh vegetables, but have no clue where to start. I want people to know that they are not trapped in the system, I want to build a community around health and around living simply, and I want to have fun and make new friends doing it. In order to do that, though I have to get my feet under me and help myself first. I need to make it through college and being able to start working in order to make money. I need to make money in order to save money or give it away. I need to get my own life stable and get my family stable and a small scale community before I can start building a community on a large scale. If my own life is unstable, how can I expect to help somebody else?

I grew up in a family that raised and hunted most of what we ate or grew it in our garden. We had enough money to get by, but because we didn’t have much money, if we wanted something (like a fence or a barn) we had to build it ourselves. When I was about ten, we had just moved, and needed to put up a fence, but dad couldn’t do it himself. He taught me to weld that summer on a pipe rail fence. Over the next few years, we worked on that fence in our free time. By the time I got to high school, I was looking for a job that actually paid. My school had just started a program for students to work part time on the maintenance and cleaning staff. I applied to the program and easily got the job. During the school year, I worked in maintenance occasionally, but during the breaks I worked on large improvement projects for the school. I was the only student who knew how to weld, and there was only one other person in the entire school who could weld. I ended up as a welder throughout high school. I did maintenance work and construction for athletics and some of our school’s other facilities. When I was in my senior year, I started to seriously consider what I wanted my career path to be. I knew I didn’t want to work in an office anywhere, so I started looking into the trades. I had worked in many fields in my summer jobs over the years, and decided that welding paid the best of the industries that I was familiar with. I ended up visiting a few trade schools and community colleges and picked one that had the best reputation and gave me an opportunity for an associate’s degree if I decided to get one. I have now been at this school for a year, and I’m almost done with my welding certification. I have changed my plan to include manufacturing and fabrication as well as welding. My plan is to work in a fabricating or manufacturing shop for at least a few years until I can save up enough money to start my own. I want to work in a shop environment building various projects out of metal because I love working with my hands and I’ve always enjoyed seeing a project come together. I want to work in my own shop until I decide to retire. I plan to use this career to better myself and support a family. Eventually, I want to buy land and retire and live off the land with my family and teach my children the skills that I grew up with. The same skills that are almost never found in our society anymore.

I am currently in my second semester, studying welding and playing football at Yuba College. There are many obstacles to overcome as a young out of state student. First, I had to apply to the school, and as an out of state student, it was very difficult for me to get in and especially to register even at a community college. Second, I had to find a place to live. After looking at multiple different houses with multiple sets of prospective roommates, I finally found the house that I’m currently living in. Moving was interesting. I had to rent a U-Haul to get my bed and other belongings all the way from Texas to California. The house that we are renting did not come with appliances, so I had to bring a refrigerator and washer and dryer, as well as most of the furniture. I got all of these things by helping people remodel or move. I spent multiple months collecting things from people who were done with them. There are only three of the original five roommates still in the house. We have found a replacement roommate for one of the originals, but we are still one man short. To make up for the missing rent, I have had to pick up extra jobs and spend my limited scholarship money on housing. Between paying rent, bills, and buying school supplies, I have had little money for food. Every now and again, the school has free lunches so I make sure to get those when they’re available, but it’s not often. Most of what I’ve eaten this semester has been canned tuna, sandwiches, or some venison, that I have hunted butchered, and processed myself. I’ve applied to many scholarships, but I’ve only been accepted for one. Of that one, I’ve only received half of it so far, and I am hoping to get the second check in the next month or two. I got a part-time job at the school. Mostly it involves doing the laundry for the basketball team, but every now and again, there’s an extra little bit of work that I can cover for someone else. My first paycheck went missing, and I’m currently working through the process of getting it re-issued. That paycheck will be able to feed me for the next month or even two and pay for the rest of my school supplies, but until I get it, I’m having to make do with what I have. A lesser concern, but still relevant, is homesickness. It’s hard to make friends out here when I have almost no time outside of work, school, and football. I miss my family anyway, and not having friends only makes it worse.

I grew up in an athletically inclined family, so I never had much chance to experience music from an artists or performers point of view. I do remember one of the few times I got to play music was the handbells. I was in fourth grade. A new student fresh out of homeschool. I was not naturally athletic enough to, nor was I interested in playing recess sports, so it was hard for me to make friends. I do remember my music class though, my teacher was a nice older lady. I had the distinct honor of being in the last class she taught before retirement. We spent most of the year learning recorder, which I found, entertaining, but not altogether difficult or inspiring. Then, at the end of the semester, we got to try handbells! It didn’t seem too interesting at first mostly because each student only got one or two notes they were able to play, but something in the beautiful simplicity of it resonated with me. The fact that it took so many individuals all working together, inspired me. Nobody alone could do anything remotely resembling music, but together we were amazing. In those last few weeks, our young class learned to play Ode to Joy, using only the handbells. This was a very special piece of music to me for a few reasons. This song was the only song I truly enjoyed playing on the recorder. It is one I spent many hours every week, and sometimes even every day practicing. I loved the simple repetitive beauty of the song broken only every once in a while by the challenge of a sudden burst of furiously fast paced notes. I was overjoyed when all of a sudden my favorite song throughout the semester was the one that we were taught together as a class. The song that other student wanted to take the time to learn on their own, I was finally able to share with my classmates, my new friends. I eventually grew into my athletic ability and out of my musical aspirations, but I always wonder what would’ve happened if I had been born into a musical family instead. I have not touched or even seen a handbell since that class was ended and I have not seen nor heard about that teacher since the last day that first semester of my fourth grade year, but I will never forget her. Nor will I ever forget the special gloves we put on as soon as we walked into the handbell class, almost as if they were holy objects. My only other experience in music after that was fifth grade band and orchestra. I chose to be in the percussion section that year because I love the beautiful simplicity of it. I was the first chair, and I got the honor to start off our Christmas performance. Tuesday I still find myself humming or whistling that sentimental tune by Beethoven. I can still pick up a recorder and play it mostly from memory. I hope to get back into music one day, but as for right now, I’m following my father‘s footsteps across the football field.