Would it be cliché to say that my father is my biggest role model and my greatest inspiration? To some people that may be the case. But for me, it’s a reality that I can’t deny. For my entire life up until last year, my father was a police officer. When I was a small kid, seeing him in uniform was like looking at a superhero. He was bigger than life with a huge personality. I can remember telling my father that I wanted to be a police officer when I grew up, but he told me that he wanted to see something better for me. And as impressive as his law enforcement career may sound, his real calling was his 28 year “side career” as a high school football coach. And I absolutely loved football from the time he introduced me to it. I tagged along with my dad at football practice and games. I watched players like running back Isaac Richard, who left our school in 2011 and played college football at Pitzer College. He is currently the Vice President and Wealth Manager of First Republic Private Wealth Management in Beverly Hills. And in 2010, I watched defensive back Henry Organ go from Saint Mary’s to play at Portland State. Now he is a part owner and sports agent at The Disruptive Sports Agency. I can use 600 words in an essay just mentioning the number of guys my dad coached who have had this type of success. Before I enrolled at Saint Mary’s College High School, we had a family legacy there that went back to the early 1980s. My dad graduated in 1988 with my uncle and my godfather. They are all members of my high school’s athletic hall of fame. So, when I came to the school and wanted to play football, the pressure to live up to expectations was incredible. Fortunately, my father was also my coach. He would tell me to be myself and not try to be him. He said he wanted me to be BETTER than he was. I was an honor roll student like he was. But I earned all-league first-team honors and was named defensive player of the year, something my dad never did. And it was all due to how much he poured into me and how important it was for both of us. I grew up having serious conversations with my father about finances. He would show me his paychecks and explain what all the different sections meant. He taught me how a deferred compensation plan could be used to keep your taxes low. I learned from him that you could leverage your insurance policies to purchase homes and maybe start investing in real estate. This was instrumental in sparking my interest in economics and finance. So, I plan on playing football and studying Economics at Lewis & Clark College next fall. I want to dig deeper into how finance and commercial residential real estate works. And a big part of that opportunity and decision was the relationships my father had with college football coaches on the entire west coast. My father has introduced me to so many things that have impacted the direction of my future. He has introduced me to so many young people who have even offered to set me up with internships or assist me in finding my first job. All of this, as a thank you for my father being a positive influence in their lives. I couldn't imagine who could be a bigger or better role model for me.

I love life. And I am in love with the idea of spreading my wings and leaving home for college. It will be a time when I can go somewhere where no one knows me or my family and I can chart my own path. This scholarship will help me to help my dad pay for school. My father is a retired police officer. He tore up his knee on the job and was forced to retire two years into my stay in high school. So, while my older sisters’ educations were less of a strain on him, my dad will struggle to help me through school on his fixed income. So, I do not take getting a scholarship like this one lightly. So many parts of my city, Oakland, CA, are run down. There is so much crime and drug use that you don’t feel like you can ever get away from it. Especially when you live with a recovering drug-addicted grandmother. My only saving grace was that my father insisted that me and my sisters all go to private school. So, because of his sacrifice, we were shielded from many of the things that some of my friends had to deal with. People would say that private school kids have it made. But that isn’t always the case. Even though we went to solid schools, we still didn’t always feel like we fit in with the other kids. We never went on cool vacations. We never had fancy things. Our cars were broken into. Our things were stolen. We saw drug use and violent crime on public transportation. Oakland and San Francisco are a mess. But I was fortunate to be able to lean on sports as a shield from all these problems. In all of this, I learned that even in dark times, we must do what we know is right. And we must strive to put our families in the best possible positions, academically, financially, and otherwise. Hard times don't last forever. The influence of great men, will. I grew up having conversations about investing, insurance policies and deferred compensation plans with my father. I have a plan for building wealth and having a great career. I plan on playing football and studying economics next year at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. Eventually, I want to own commercial residential real estate as a business and as a supplement to my career in finance. My experience in the finance world will help guide me in that direction. I want to leverage the earnings in commercial real estate in order to purchase small single-family rental homes in Ohio, Michigan or Tennessee. I will look for areas where a single large employer has a large workforce. Those employees will need quality places to live at fair prices. Providing affordable and quality living spaces will be my way of assisting the communities that I wish to serve with the business that I seek to build. In the future, I plan on going back to my high school and speaking to the younger athletes about wealth building, managing time, managing finances, and creating a business with an eye toward service to our community. I would love to coach and mentor as well. We call ourselves a Saint Mary's family. And if we all help each other we can all succeed.

The 1992 film “Juice” starring Tupac Shakur and Omar Epps was a coming-of-age film about a Brooklyn, New York teenager who succumbed to the influence of his peer group and followed the crowd, almost to his detriment. This film spoke to me in so many ways when my father introduced me to the film and its lessons. You can come from a difficult background and still make good choices. So many parts of my city, Oakland, CA, are run down. There is so much crime and drug use that you don’t feel like you can ever get away from it. Especially when you live with a recovering drug-addicted grandmother. My only saving grace was that my father insisted that me and my sisters all go to private school. So, because of his sacrifice, we were shielded from many of the things that some of my friends had to deal with. People would say that private school kids have it made. But that isn’t always the case. Even though we went to solid schools, we still didn’t always feel like we fit in with the other kids. We never went on cool vacations. We never had fancy things. Our cars were broken into. Our things were stolen. We saw drug use and violent crime on public transportation. Oakland and San Francisco are a mess. But I was fortunate to be able to lean on sports as a shield from all these problems. In all this, I learned even in dark times, we must do what we know is right. And we must strive to put our families in the best possible positions, academically, financially, and otherwise. Hard times don't last forever. The influence of great men, will. I grew up having conversations about investing, insurance policies and deferred compensation plans with my father. I have a plan for building wealth and having a great career. I plan on playing football and studying economics next year at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. Eventually, I want to own commercial residential real estate as a business and a supplement to my career in finance. My experience in the finance world will help guide me in that direction. I want to leverage the earnings in commercial real estate to purchase small single-family rental homes in Ohio, Michigan or Tennessee. I will look for areas where a single large employer has a large workforce. Those employees will need quality places to live at fair prices. So, having a college degree will not only help me academically, but it will help the communities that I wish to serve with the business that I seek to build. None of my high school teammates in my graduating class decided to play football in college. Some have even given me a hard time about continuing to play. But unlike the protagonist in the movie "Juice", I will not follow the crowd and succumb to that negative peer pressure. Academics and football at Lewis & Clark College will be a vehicle to my future success. I plan on using football to take advantage of every opportunity presented to me. And in the future, I plan on going back to my high school to give the younger athletes ALL of the information that I learn on wealth building, managing time, managing finances, and creating a business with an eye toward service to our community. We call ourselves a Saint Mary's family. And if we all help each other do the right things we can all succeed.

So many parts of my city, East Oakland, CA, are run down. There is so much crime and drug use that you don’t feel like you can ever get away from it. Especially when you live with a recovering drug-addicted grandmother. My only saving grace was that my father insisted that me and my sisters all go to private school. So, we were shielded from many of the things that some of my friends had to deal with. People would say that private school kids have it made. But that isn’t always the case. My father is a medically retired police officer. And he worked constantly. He was determined to keep me and my sisters in school. In 2008 he had to make a choice. Either he would keep our 2 bedroom family home that the six of us shared and take us out of private school. Or we would give up our home and he would keep us in private school. I am both happy and sad that he chose our education over home ownership. I am happy that me and my sisters were able to get great educations. Even though we went to solid schools, we still didn’t always feel like we fit in with the other kids. We never went on cool vacations. We never had fancy things or fancy cars. Our cars were broken into. Our things were stolen. We saw drug use and violent crime on public transportation. Oakland and San Francisco are a mess. But I was fortunate to be able to lean on sports as a shield from all these problems. In all this, I learned that even when things look difficult, a man needs to protect and lead his family. Even at the cost of personal loss, we must do what we know is right. And we must strive to put our families in the best possible positions, academically, financially, and otherwise. Hard times don't last forever. The influence of great men, will. This fall, I plan on playing football and studying economics at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. I will have a career in finance as well as owning commercial residential real estate. I want to leverage the earnings the commercial real estate to purchase small single-family rental homes in Ohio, Michigan or Tennessee. I will look for areas where a single large employer has a large workforce. Those employees will need quality places to live at fair prices. This will be my way of assisting the communities that I wish to serve with the business that I seek to build. In the future, I plan on going back to my high school and speaking to younger athletes about wealth building, managing time, managing finances, and creating a business with an eye toward service to our community. I would love to coach and mentor as well. We call ourselves a Saint Mary's family. And if we all help each other we can all succeed.

So many parts of my city, East Oakland, CA, are run down. There is so much crime and drug use that you don’t feel like you can ever get away from it. Especially when you live with a recovering drug addicted grandmother. My only saving grace was that my father insisted that me and my sisters all go to private school. So, we were shielded from many of the things that some of my friends had to deal with in going to subpar schools. People would say that private school kids have it made. But that isn’t always the case. My father is a retired police officer. And he worked constantly. One year he told me that he averaged two days off per month for an ENTIRE year. It literally almost killed him. But he was determined to keep me and my sisters in private school. In 2008 he had to make a choice. Either he would keep our 2 bedroom family home that the six of us shared and take us out of private school. Or we would give up our home and he would keep us in private school. I am both happy and sad that he chose our education over home ownership. I am happy that me and my sisters were able to get great educations. But it saddens me to see how much losing our home affects my father. He grew up longing to be a homeowner. He had his goal and it slipped away. He has never been the same. Even though we went to solid schools, we still didn’t always feel like we fit in with the other kids. My parents argued about money all the time. Both of my older sisters are out of our home. I don’t know if my parents will even be together once I graduate and go off to college. My father is leaving this inner city and moving to Las Vegas as soon as I leave for school. We never went on cool vacations. We never had fancy things like designer clothing or fancy cars. Our cars were broken into. Our things were stolen. We saw drug use and violent crime on public transportation. Oakland and San Francisco are a mess. And again, it is depressing to be here. I was fortunate to be able to lean on sports as a shield from all these problems. My father is an advocate for financial responsibility. He would sometimes show me his paychecks and explain what all the different sections meant. He taught me how a deferred compensation plan could be used to keep your taxes low. He talked about how you could use your insurance policies to pay off debt. You could also leverage your policies to purchase homes. This sparked my interest in economics and finance. So this fall I will play football and major in economics and entrepreneurship at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. I want to dig deeper into the finance world and understand how it all works. I also want to learn as much as I can about commercial residential real estate and eventually invest in several pieces of property. In all this, I learned that even when things look difficult, a man needs to protect and lead his family. Even at the cost of personal loss, we must do what we know is right. And we must strive to put our families in the best possible positions, academically, financially, and otherwise. Hard times don't last forever. The influence of great men, will.

My father is a retired police officer who valued being financially responsible. So, I grew up having serious conversations with my father about finances. He would often show me his paychecks and explain what all the different sections meant. I grew up having conversations about investing, insurance policies, and having a great career. He taught me that a deferred compensation plan could be used to keep your taxes low. I learned that you could leverage your insurance policies financially. He talked to me about paying off student debt and even purchasing homes with any of your financial plans. This sparked my interest in economics and finance. Next fall I plan on playing football and majoring in economics and finance at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. I want to dig deeper into the finance world and understand how it all works. I am looking at a school that will put me in a position to be great AFTER graduation. And unlike many athletes, I am choosing to go and play at a smaller school that does not offer football scholarships. I had to get accepted into school on my merit as a student first, and an athlete second. Lewis & Clark College is about 15 minutes from the Nike headquarters, the Adidas headquarters, and the Under Armor headquarters. It is also the same distance from several accounting firms in that area just outside of Portland. I was told by the football staff that those companies offer internships to members of our school's athletics program. And Lewis & Clark has a 97% job placement rate for our college graduates. So, getting a degree in economics and finance will put me in a position to build my resume while I’m in school. And I will be able to build my resume with some of the biggest and best-known companies in the country. This would allow me to be ready for any challenge in the work world after having these opportunities. I am interested in working in finance for a company that is in the hospitality field, in either hotels or gaming. My family is relocating from the Bay Area to Las Vegas when I start college. So, my economics degree could help me become a successful CPA at a company like the Frazier & Deeter Las Vegas CPA firm if I choose to follow my family after college. That is one option of many that will be available to me once I graduate from college. Eventually, I want to own commercial residential real estate as a supplement and then as a replacement for my career. My experience in the finance world will help guide me in that direction. I want to leverage the earnings from my commercial real estate to purchase small single-family rental homes in Ohio, Michigan or Tennessee. As an owner of residential real estate, I will look for areas where a single large employer has a large workforce. Those employees will need quality places to live at fair prices. So, having a college degree will not only help me academically and financially, but it will help the communities that I wish to serve with the business that I seek to build. Everyone needs an opportunity to live close to where they work. And being able to provide affordable housing to people working hard for their families is something that I want to be a part of. And this is what my college degree will allow me to do for communities that I may not even live in. This past March, I was able to travel to a small town near Cartagena, Colombia with my high school. We were there not only to experience a different culture, but to offer our assistance to those less fortunate than we are. While we were there, we were tasked with doing repairs on the homes of residents who were not able to afford those repairs themselves. And we finished these projects by fully painting many of the homes in the community. Being there to assist the less fortunate helped me to see that service to someone other than myself can be just as satisfying as improving my own situation. So, in the future, I hope to make this type of community service a part of who I am as a person. This will not just be for those in far away countries, but it will be for those in the community where I lay down roots. I want to put together all the things my dad showed me and add that to what I learn in college, internships, and employment. Then I want to go back to my high school and give the younger kids ALL this information on wealth building, managing finances, and creating businesses with an eye toward service to our community. In high school, I looked up to so many former Saint Mary's athletes who left our school and made positive impacts in the business world and on those around them. I watched players like running back Isaac Richard, who left Saint Mary's in 2011 and played small college football at Pitzer College. He is currently the Vice President and Wealth Manager of First Republic Private Wealth Management in Beverly Hills. And 2010 Saint Mary’s graduate, defensive back Henry Organ left our school to play at Portland State. Now he is a part owner and sports agent at The Disruptive Sports Agency. He has come back and spoken to us several times about his journey. Many more men from my school have had this type of success. And I want to surpass their success and their contributions to our community. I would also love to follow in my dad’s footsteps as a coach and mentor to my younger Saint Mary’s brothers. We call ourselves a Saint Mary's family. And if we all help each other we can all succeed.

When I think about my future, I think about how my college education will help me achieve my goals. I am fortunate enough to be a talented 6’4”, 240 lb. football playing defensive end with good grades. So, I was offered the opportunity to play football and study economics at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. And I can see how every moment of most of my days will be filled with things to do. Class schedules, studying and homework, football practice, game weekend travel, and even grocery shopping and doing laundry will occupy all of my time. Since the transition from high school to college can be overwhelming, I wanted to create a tool that would assist students that have a lot of activities, sports, and schoolwork. I want to help as many students as possible, manage their time effectively. So, for my school’s senior project, I created a time management website that I would love to share with any student who can benefit from it. The website features user login, registration, and a calendar view that shows upcoming assignments and deadlines. There is also a productivity calculator so that students can see if they are improving their time management skills. I also included a drop-down menu to give assignments and activities a high, medium or low priority level. My first order of business was to choose a coding language and the proper tools, taking into account that I had zero experience coding. My mentor suggested that I learn JavaScript. I took an online JavaScript course at Udemy.com and began my journey into creating a dynamic and interactive website. But that was only the beginning. I also had to learn HTML to define the structure and the content of the website. Then I also had to learn CSS, which would define the appearance and the layout of the website. While learning how to code and integrate the different languages, I also had to research various time management techniques, organize the different web features and develop and project plan. I created mockups of every page to create the look and feel of the site. Then I had to develop the website with the help of my mentor and the React.js software and tutorials. And lastly, I had to alpha and beta-test the site. It was difficult to see my website crash when multiple users accessed it during the testing phase. But I gained a lot of valuable feedback and was able to refine the design and functionality of the site. Learning these different coding languages and learning how to integrate them into one product in just one school year was incredibly frustrating and challenging. Especially while playing an undefeated league championship football season, keeping my grades up in my other classes, and being a regular teenager with an active family life. It was the most difficult academic project that I have ever experienced. But I am proud to say that my site worked. Right now, my project is only on my computer and only available for me to use. But if I had the resources, I would love to take my work out of my high school's computer lab and bring it online to be shared as either an application or a stand-alone website for many others to use. My project plan and the testing worked exactly as I designed them to work. The project was a success!! And even though it was difficult, I think that this process helped me prove to myself that I can overcome what may appear to be impossible academic obstacles.

The dream version of my future is to play college football for four years at Lewis & Clark College and get internships from local Portland accounting firms for all four years, then get an accounting job immediately, then save money for my first piece of commercial residential real estate to start my real estate mini-empire.

Years ago, I really wanted to follow in my father’s footsteps and become a police officer. He emphatically said no and told me to pick something else. My dad was always so focused on being financially responsible. He would always try and give me financial nuggets of information. He would often show me his paychecks and explain what all the different sections meant. He taught me that a deferred compensation plan could be used to keep your taxes low. I learned that you could leverage your insurance policies financially. He talked to me about paying off student debt and even purchasing homes with any of your financial plans. This sparked my interest in economics and finance. So, next fall I will play football and major in economics and entrepreneurship at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. I want to dig deeper into the finance world and understand how it all works. Lewis & Clark College is about 15 minutes from the Nike, Adidas and Under Armor Headquarters, as well as several accounting firms in that same area just outside of Portland. I was told by the football staff that those companies offer internships to members of the football program. The opportunities that I have in front of me are tailor-made for me to be successful. My inner drive is to surpass my dad and grandfather. From football athletes, to having incredible families, to careers, to community service, and beyond, they are two of the best MEN that I have ever encountered. They have taught me in words and deeds what real men are and what we are required to do, not only for our families but for everyone we come into contact with. So, I am driven to put into practice all that they have taught me. Professionally, I want to work in finance for a company that is in the hospitality field, in either hotels or gaming. My family is relocating to Las Vegas when I start college. So, my economics degree could help me become a successful CPA at a company like the Frazier & Deeter Las Vegas CPA firm. But eventually, I want to own commercial residential real estate as a supplement and then as a replacement for my career. My experience in the finance world will help guide me in that direction. I want to leverage the earnings from my commercial real estate to purchase small single-family rental homes in Ohio, Michigan or Tennessee. I will look for areas where a single large employer has a large workforce. Those employees will need quality places to live at fair prices. So, having a college degree will not only help me academically, but it will help the communities that I wish to serve with the business that I seek to build. I will be well on my way to this ultimate goal in the next five years. And if I can use the things my dad showed me and add that to what I learn in college, I could go back to my high school and give the younger kids ALL this information on wealth building, managing finances, and creating businesses with an eye toward service to our community. In high school, I looked up to so many former Saint Mary's athletes who left our school and made positive impacts in the business world and on those around them. I want to surpass their contributions to our community. I would absolutely love to follow in my dad’s footsteps as a football coach and mentor. If we all help each other we can all succeed.

Growing up in and around East Oakland, California can be seriously depressing. So many parts of the city are run down. There is so much crime and drug use that you don’t feel like you can ever get away from it. Especially when you live with a recovering drug addicted grandmother. My only saving grace was that I had two parents in my home. But it didn’t always help. My other saving grace was that my father insisted that me and my sisters all go to private school. So we were shielded from many of the things that some of my friends had to deal with in going to subpar schools. People would say that private school kids have it made. But that isn’t always the case. My father was a police officer. And he worked constantly. One year he told me that he averaged two days off per month for an ENTIRE year. It literally almost killed him. But he was determined to keep me and my sisters in private school. In 2008 he had to make a choice. Either he would keep our 2 bedroom family home that the six of us shared and take us out of private school. Or we would give up our home and he would keep us in private school. I’m both happy and sad that he chose our education over home ownership. I'm happy that me and my sisters were able to get great educations. But it saddens me to see how much losing our home affects my father. He grew up longing to be a homeowner. He had his goal and it slipped away. And he has never been the same. Even though we went to solid schools, we still didn’t always feel like we fit in with the other students. My parents argued about money all the time. Both of my sisters are out of our home, and I know my father is still around because I am still at home. I don’t know if my parents will even be together once I graduate and go off to college. My father is leaving this inner city and moving to Las Vegas as soon as I go off to school. We never went on vacations. We never had many extra fancy things like designer clothing or fancy cars. Our cars were broken into. Our things were stolen. We saw drug use and violent crime on public transportation. Oakland and San Francisco are a mess. And again, it is depressing to be here. And there is one thing that has kept all of us away from the crime and dangers of inner-city life. Sports. My dad spends all of his free time coaching football at our high school. I grew to be 6’4” and 235 lbs. My dad poured all of his efforts into making me the best ballplayer I could be. This past year I was voted one of the two All-League defensive ends in our league. I was also voted defensive player of the year. So, football has kept me safe and sane over these past few years. And I was able to catch up on the time that the police department took away from me and my dad spending time together. When I think about my future, I think about how a college education will help in getting to my goals. A college degree will allow me to take some of the things that I have been shown and put them into action in a business setting. My father taught me a lot of things about how to have a good career and how to manage money. Our talks about retirement savings, insurance plans, and deferred compensation, made me interested in accounting and finance. So, I plan on playing football and studying economics and finance at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon next fall. Getting a degree in economics and earning internships, will put me in a position to build my resume while I’m in school. It will lead me to a good job and it will also help me to never have to return to the inner city if I choose not to.

I have a bit of a different view of life than some of my classmates and peers. I grew up as a coach's kid. My father coached at my high school for almost 28 years. And he is a retired police officer. So, while other kids are thinking about college fun, I'm thinking about future financial goals. That's not to say that I don't want to have a good time, but I am stepping out and taking a bit of a different path than most of the kids around me. I grew up having conversations about investing, insurance policies, deferred compensation plans and having a great career. I have a plan for building wealth and having a great career. Under my father's guidance, I earned the honor of being our school's defensive player of the year and I was voted as a 1st team all-league selection at defensive end. But unlike most successful athletes, I am choosing to play at a smaller school that does not offer football scholarships. I had to get into school on my merit as a student first, and an athlete second. And while many of my classmates are picking colleges based on the number of students or reputations for how fun they are, I chose a school that will put me in a position to be great AFTER graduation. I plan on playing football and studying economics next year at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. No huge stadiums. No bright lights. No television coverage. Just playing for the love of the game and getting a great education. Lewis & Clark College is about 15 minutes from the Nike, Adidas and Under Armor Headquarters, as well as several accounting firms in that Portland area. I was told by the football staff at Lewis & Clark that those companies offer internships to members of the football program. So, I can earn valuable job experience with internships in the off-season when I am not playing college football. Eventually, I want to own commercial residential real estate as a business and a supplement to my career in finance. My experience in the finance world will help guide me in that direction. I want to leverage the earnings the commercial real estate to purchase small single-family rental homes in Ohio, Michigan or Tennessee. I will look for areas where a single large employer has a large workforce. Those employees will need quality places to live at fair prices. So, having a college degree will not only help me academically, but it will help the communities that I wish to serve with the business that I seek to build. This year, my senior project at Saint Mary's is building and coding an app that will keep track of my college class assignments, schedules for non-scholastic events, and assignment deadlines. Building this app will assist me in making sure that I stay on task with my football practice schedule, my game and travel schedule, and my academic schedule. It was important to me to create something that will help me to be successful in my immediate future, not just get a passing score for the project. In the future, I plan on going back to my high school and giving the younger kids ALL this information on wealth building, managing time, managing finances, and creating a business with an eye toward service to our community. I would love to coach and mentor as well. We call ourselves a Saint Mary's family. And if we all help each other we can all succeed.

One wrong step changed everything for my family. One torn meniscus and one bone-on-bone knee made my college journey so much more difficult, financially. But it wasn't my knee or meniscus. It was my dad's. For my entire life up until last year, my father was a police officer. But he has retired due to his on-the-job injury. When I was a small kid, seeing him in uniform was like looking at a superhero. He was bigger than life with a huge personality. I can remember telling my father that I wanted to be a police officer when I grew up, but he told me that he wanted to see something better for me. And as impressive as his law enforcement career may sound, his real calling was his 28-year “side career” as a high school football coach. And I absolutely loved football from the time he introduced me to it. I still have the ball that he put in my crib when I came home from the hospital. Before I enrolled at Saint Mary’s College High School, we had a family legacy there that went back to the early 1980s. My dad graduated in 1988 with my uncle and my godfather. They are all members of my high school’s athletic hall of fame. So, when I came to the school and wanted to play football, the pressure to live up to expectations was incredible. Fortunately, my father was also my coach. He would tell me to be myself and not try to be him. He said he wanted me to be BETTER than he was. I was an honor roll student like he was. But at 6’4” and 235 lbs., I grew much bigger than my dad’s 5’11” and 180 lbs. He told me that once we were the same height when I was in the 7th grade, he had to pivot and teach me to be a defensive end instead of a defensive back like he was. I don’t know how he ALWAYS knows the right moves, but he always comes through!!! And this year, I earned all-league first-team honors at defensive end and was named defensive player of the year, something my dad never did. And it was all due to how much he poured into me and how important it was for both of us. I grew up having serious conversations with my father about finances. He would show me his paychecks and explain what all the different sections meant. He taught me how a deferred compensation plan could be used to keep your taxes low. I learned from him that you could leverage your insurance policies to purchase homes and maybe start investing in real estate. This was instrumental in sparking my interest in economics and finance. So, I plan on playing football and studying Economics at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon next fall. I want to dig deeper into how finance and commercial residential real estate works. And a big part of that opportunity and decision was the relationships my father had with college football coaches on the entire west coast. My father has introduced me to so many things that have impacted the direction of my future. He has introduced me to so many of his former players in finance who have even offered to set me up with internships or assist me in finding my first job. For them, it is a thank you for my father being a positive influence in their lives. I couldn't imagine who could be a bigger or better role model for me.

My father is a retired police officer. He would sometimes show me his paychecks and explain what all the different sections meant. He also taught me that a deferred compensation plan could be used to keep your taxes low. I learned that you could leverage your insurance policies to pay off student debt and even purchase homes. This sparked my interest in economics and finance. So, next fall I plan on playing football and majoring in Economics at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. I want to dig deeper into the finance world and understand how it all works. This is part of my overall plan to attain generational wealth. I want to use the insurance policies that my dad set up for me with I was younger and pay off my student loans. Then I can buy my first home by borrowing against my insurance policy to pay at least half, if not all, of the monthly mortgage payments. Lewis & Clark College is about 15 minutes from the Nike, Adidas and Under Armor Headquarters, as well as several accounting firms in that same area just outside of Portland. I was told by the football staff that those companies offer internships to members of the football program. And Lewis & Clark has a 97% job placement rate for our college graduates. So, getting a degree in economics and finance will put me in a position to build my resume while I’m in school. And I will be able to build my resume with some of the biggest and best-known companies in the country. The things I learn in school and the things I can learn in an internship will combine to make a great college education. I think that I will be ready for any challenge in the work world after having these opportunities. My goal is to use my earnings from my employment to purchase my first piece of commercial residential real estate. Then I can leverage the earnings from that piece of property to purchase small rental homes in Ohio, Michigan or Tennessee. I want to acquire at least 20 homes. Then when my children graduate from college, they will be given four homes each. They can sell one home to purchase a forever home to live in the city of their choice. Then can use the profits from the other homes as seed money to purchase insurance policies, start college funds, and buy more real estate to provide for their own families. I want to also learn how to set up trusts to protect my business and investments. They will grow up learning all that I was taught. If I can use the things my dad showed me and add that to what I learn in college, I could leave more to my future children and grandchildren than my dad was able to leave to me and my sisters. I also plan on going back to my high school and giving the younger kids ALL this information on wealth building, managing finances, and creating businesses with an eye toward service to our community. In high school, I looked up to so many former Saint Mary's athletes who left our school and made positive impacts in the business world and to those around them. I want to surpass their contributions to our community. I would absolutely love to follow in my dad’s footsteps as a coach and mentor to my Saint Mary’s brothers. We call ourselves a Saint Mary's family. And if we all help each other we can all succeed.

Life is funny sometimes. I grew up as a coach's kid. My father coached at my high school for almost 30 years. And he is a retired police officer. So that gives me a bit of a different view of life than some of my classmates and peers. While other kids are thinking about college fun, I'm thinking about future financial goals. That's not to say that I don't want to have a good time, but I am stepping out and taking a bit of a different path than most of the kids around me. I grew up having conversations about investing, insurance policies, deferred compensation plans and having a great career. I have a plan for building wealth and having a great career. Under my father's guidance, I earned the honor of being our school's defensive player of the year and I was voted as a 1st team all-league selection at defensive end. But unlike most successful athletes, I am choosing to play at a smaller school that does not offer football scholarships. I had to get into school on my merit as a student first, and an athlete second. And while many of my classmates are picking colleges based on the number of students or reputations for how fun they are, I chose a school that will put me in a position to be great AFTER graduation. I plan on playing football and studying economics next year at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. No huge stadiums. No bright lights. No television coverage. Just playing for the love of the game and getting a great education. Lewis & Clark College is about 15 minutes from the Nike, Adidas and Under Armor Headquarters, as well as several accounting firms in that Portland area. I was told by the football staff at Lewis & Clark that those companies offer internships to members of the football program. So, I can earn valuable job experience with internships in the off-season when I am not playing college football. Eventually, I want to own commercial residential real estate as a business and a supplement to my career in finance. My experience in the finance world will help guide me in that direction. I want to leverage the earnings the commercial real estate to purchase small single-family rental homes in Ohio, Michigan or Tennessee. I will look for areas where a single large employer has a large workforce. Those employees will need quality places to live at fair prices. So, having a college degree will not only help me academically, but it will help the communities that I wish to serve with the business that I seek to build. This year, my senior project at Saint Mary's is building and coding an app that will keep track of my college class assignments, schedules for non-scholastic events, and assignment deadlines. Building this app will assist me in making sure that I stay on task with my football practice schedule, my game and travel schedule, and my academic schedule. It was important to me to create something that will help me to be successful in my immediate future, not just get a passing score for the project. In the future, I plan on going back to my high school and giving the younger kids ALL this information on wealth building, managing time, managing finances, and creating a business with an eye toward service to our community. I would love to coach and mentor as well. We call ourselves a Saint Mary's family. And if we all help each other we can all succeed.

I love life. And I am in love with the idea of spreading my wings and leaving home for college. It will be a time when I can go somewhere where no one knows my people and I can chart my own path. This scholarship will help me to help my dad pay for school. My father is a retired police officer. He tore up his knee on the job and was forced to retire two years into my stay in high school. So, while my sisters’ educations were paid “with ease” with overtime money, my dad will struggle to help me through school on his fixed income. So, I do not take getting a scholarship like this one lightly. I will be attending Lewis & Clark College next fall as an economics major. I will also study entrepreneurship. The tuition is extremely expensive, even with the financial aid package they are providing me with. Even so, I am excited to go there and continue my football career. Getting a college degree from Lewis & Clark will help set me up for future success. Lewis & Clark College in Portland is about 15 minutes from the Nike, Adidas, and Under Armor Headquarters, as well as several accounting firms in that same area just outside of Portland. I was told by the football staff at Lewis & Clark that those three companies offer internships to members of the football program. And my future school has a 97% job placement rate for our college graduates. I am going to college to learn how money works. And even with a job and career I will still purchase and manage commercial residential real estate. My goal is to leverage the earnings from that one piece of rental property to purchase small single-family rental homes in Ohio, Michigan, or Tennessee. All the rental earnings from these small homes will be either saved or used for the upkeep of the properties. Rental home profits will be saved and used to purchase more commercial residential real estate in my community in my home state. Once the small single-family homes appreciate in value, they will be sold. More commercial residential real estate will be immediately purchased to offset any kind of tax that will be put on the profits from the sale of the homes. I am excited to begin the process of building generational wealth for my future family! My experience with emotional weakness revolved around my dad, my uncle and my godfather. They were all teammates and they are all members of my school’s athletic hall of fame. They know everybody in the Bay Area sports community. And when I got to high school, I found out that they coached all of my coaches when my coaches were in high school. So, the pressure to perform was massive. I broke down feeling like the expectations for me were too high. Fortunately, my counselor was a senior at my school when my dad was a freshman. He knew my dad well. He gave me communication tips and I was able to express my feelings to my father. My dad told me to just be myself and not worry about expectations. But the competitor in me wanted to be better than my father. With my dad’s coaching and guidance, I ended up being an honor roll student as well as earning all-league first-team honors and defensive player of the year. I cannot explain how proud I am to achieve this level of accolade. But I am hungry for more when I reach the college level.

Growing up these days, it is easy to let your mind wander and allow your mental health to suffer. There are so many things to do and accomplish that you cannot afford to allow pressure, expectations, and hopelessness to creep in and keep you from being the best version of yourself. So, it is important to manage your mental health to the best of your ability. It is important to stay on an even keel so that you can perform in school, in athletics, and in reaching your ultimate goals. And in my experience, there are a couple of ways that I stay focused and positive so that I can accomplish those goals. Even before I enrolled at Saint Mary’s College High School in Berkeley, CA, we had a family legacy there that went back to the early 1980’s. My dad graduated in 1988. He was popular, athletic, successful in the classroom, on the football field and socially. Then I came along. I wanted to play football and do well in class, but the pressure to perform was incredible. How was I going to live up to the expectations that my name carried? It began to affect me on the field and in the classroom. Fortunately, my counselor was a senior at our high school when my dad was a freshman. He was able to give me insight into what my dad was like at my age. He helped me to relax, be myself and ask questions of my family about school and sports. This helped me to focus on being myself and staying on task for what was important to me. I ended up being an honor roll student as well as earning all-league first-team honors and defensive player of the year. It showed me that my wandering mind was the cause of my mental stress and not my actual situation. But I also learned that learning to speak up and advocate for yourself goes a long way in aiding in your mental and physical well-being. I am fortunate that my athletic background gives me a great outlet for dealing with stress while keeping my body in shape. I will be a college football player next fall at Lewis & Clark College. So, I have a built-in outlet for working out. Not only that but as an athlete, we are trained not to put garbage into our bodies and get the required rest. I was also fortunate enough to have a dad who was a 28 year veteran high school football coach and police officer. And mom loves to power lift. So I have seen first hand what proper exercise will do for your physical well-being, whether I liked it or not. One of the better ways I manage my mental health is through art. I was asked why I took a tough fourth art class as a high school senior this year when I only needed two art classes to graduate. For me, art is a way to slow everything down and savor a process. Art is not like a fast-paced video game. You must take your time. And when you go slow, you can relax. When I am creating, I can let my mind be free to think about things other than what may be causing me pressure. I think about going to college next year. I think about the types of internships I will have. And I think about the great life I will live. Being slow and deliberate keeps me positive. And positivity as well as creativity is essential for good mental health.

When I think about my future, I think about how my college education will help in getting to my goal of owning my own business. It may be my main source of income or a side income. But more than one stream if revenue is needed these days in this economy. It is my goal to eventually own commercial residential real estate. With the cost of real estate, I would probably have to start out small. But I believe that this is a needed service in my community to give residents a clean and classy place to live at a reasonable price. Providing a service to my community and creating a business will bring me great fulfillment. My father is a retired a police officer. He would sometimes show me his paychecks and explain what all the different sections meant. He taught me how a deferred compensation plan could be used to keep your taxes low. I also learned from him that you could leverage your insurance policies to pay for your education. You could also leverage your policies to purchasing homes. You could use one payment to an insurance policy and in the future, that policy could possibly provide you with a place to live with a fairly debt free start. This sparked my interest in economics and finance. So that is what I plan on studying next year in college, as an Economics major at Lewis & Clark College. I will also take advantage of their entrepreneurship major as well. I want to dig deeper into the finance world and understand how it all works. I want to learn as much as I can about commercial residential real estate. My goal is to use my employment earnings for a downpayment on one small piece of commercial residential real estate. Then I can leverage the earnings from that one piece of property to purchase small single-family rental homes in Ohio, Michigan or Tennessee. I will look for areas where a single large employer has a large workforce. Those employees will need quality places to live at fair prices. All of the rental earnings from these small homes will be either saved or used for upkeep of the properties. Since I will not be living in those states, a management company will be needed. The management company will manage the properties, while I manage the management company. I want to always own at least 20 single family homes. Then when my children graduate from college, they will be given four homes each. They can sell one home to purchase a forever home to live in the city of their choice. Then can use the profits from the other homes as seed money to purchase insurance policies, college funds, and more real estate to provide for their family businesses. This is part of my overall plan to start a business and build generational wealth at the same time. Like my father, I will teach my children about money and guide them toward real estate. We can all be a part of the solution to bring quality housing at fair prices to our communities while making a decent living. One day I want to be a father. I want to be just like my father and grandfather who both tell me their biggest joy is taking care of their families. And that is where I will attain the most fulfillment in life.

When I think about my future, I think about how my college education will help in getting to my goal of owning my own business. It may be my main source of income or a side income. But more than one stream if revenue is needed these days in this economy. It is my goal to eventually own commercial residential real estate. With the cost of real estate, I would probably have to start out small. But I believe that this is a needed service in my community to give residents a clean and classy place to live at a reasonable price. My father is a retired a police officer. He would sometimes show me his paychecks and explain what all the different sections meant. He taught me how a deferred compensation plan could be used to keep your taxes low. I also learned from him that you could leverage your insurance policies to pay for your education. You could also leverage your policies to purchasing homes. You could use one payment to an insurance policy and in the future, that policy could possibly provide you with a place to live with a fairly debt free start. This sparked my interest in economics and finance. So that is what I plan on studying next year in college, as an Economics major at Lewis & Clark College. I will also take advantage of their entrepreneurship major as well. I want to dig deeper into the finance world and understand how it all works. I want to learn as much as I can about commercial residential real estate. My goal is to use my employment earnings for a downpayment on one small piece of commercial residential real estate. I also want to borrow against a current insurance policy my dad set up for me, to assist in making that purchase. Then I can leverage the earnings from that one piece of property to purchase small single-family rental homes in Ohio, Michigan or Tennessee. I will look for areas where a single large employer has a large workforce. Those employees will need quality places to live at fair prices. All of the rental earnings from these small homes will be either saved or used for upkeep of the properties. Since I will not be living in those states, a management company will be needed. The management company will manage the properties, while I manage the management company. Rental home profits will be saved and used to purchase more commercial residential real estate in my community in my home state. Once the small single-family homes appreciate in value, they will be sold. More commercial residential real estate will be immediately purchased to offset any kind of tax that will be put on the profits from the sale of the homes. I want to always own at least 20 single family homes. Then when my children graduate from college, they will be given four homes each. They can sell one home to purchase a forever home to live in the city of their choice. Then can use the profits from the other homes as seed money to purchase insurance policies, college funds, and more real estate to provide for their family businesses. This is part of my overall plan to start a business and build generational wealth at the same time. Like my father, I will teach my children about money and guide them toward real estate. We can all be a part of the solution to bring quality housing at fair prices to our communities while making a decent living.

People say football is life. As crazy as it sounds, I’m living proof. When I was born the doctor handed me to my dad. He whispered a short prayer into my ear, then he put me in my crib next to a brand new football. I was destined to play this game. Even before I enrolled at Saint Mary’s College High School in Berkeley, CA, we had a family legacy there that went back to the early 1980’s. My dad graduated in 1988. His cousin was his teammate. My godfather was also his teammate. They are all in our school’s hall of fame. And they all coached at Saint Mary’s as well. From the time I was five years old to the time I enrolled as a freshman, I was always around the program. My father coached for 28 years at my high school. My current trainer played for my dad in 2011. My first junior varsity coach and first varsity coach played for my dad in 2009 and 2000 respectively. My counselor was a senior at my high school when my dad was a freshman, and they coached together for years. His son is my current teammate. So, the game has surrounded me for all my life. It has been as important to me as air and water. I couldn’t wait to play the game, but my dad wouldn’t allow me to play until he could be my first coach in high school. My passion for the game began with the guys my dad coached when I was younger. I would watch them play and they seemed like superheroes. They were larger than life with big personalities. They were loud and funny, but fast and dangerous on the field. I was a bigger chunky kid so my teachers would always tell me to be careful with the smaller kids and play nice. Watching football gave me hope that I could one day be fast and reckless without worry. I could just be a boy. I could just be a carefree kid. And when I came to high school, I was allowed to just turn it all loose. My dad coached me to be great. And I ended up being an honor roll student as well as earning all-league first-team honors and defensive player of the year, something my dad never did. I plan on going back to my high school and giving the younger kids the same information that some of the older kids gave to us. For example, Henry Organ graduated from Saint Mary’s in 2010 and he would come back to talk to the football program about his time working for Nike after he played at Portland State. Chris Carnegie left Saint Mary’s in 2011 and played football at West Point. He came and talked to us this year about his journey and his desire to get into finance after his military service ends. Football has taught me about being a part of a family and working toward something bigger than myself. It also taught me to pay my blessing forward to the next generation. I was a chubby kid before I played. The game taught me that I can make myself into anything that I wanted. I am currently 6’4” tall and 235 lbs. and I will be playing defensive end at Lewis & Clark College next fall. All the guys I have mentioned are a part of my Saint Mary’s high school community and our football family. The game has taught me that if we all help each other we can all succeed.

How am I going to get all this work done? The expectations are so high here. My sisters and my dad did so many great things at this school. How will I ever live up to that? Those are some of the questions I remember asking myself my entire time in high school. The pressure began from day one, four years ago, as soon as I stepped onto our campus. The one constant was the pressure. And if I let that pressure get to me, my mental health was sure to suffer. Lucky for me I had my biological family and my school community family to fall back on. Growing up these days, it is easy to let your mind wander and allow your mental health to suffer. There are so many things to do and accomplish that you cannot afford to allow pressure, expectations and hopelessness to creep in and keep you from being the best version of yourself. So, it is important to manage your mental health to the best of your ability. It is important to stay on an even keel so that you can perform in school, in athletics, and in reaching your ultimate goals. And in my experience, there are a couple of ways that I stay focused and positive so that I can accomplish those goals. Even before I enrolled at Saint Mary’s College High School in Berkeley, CA, we had a family legacy there that went back to the early 1980’s. My dad graduated in 1988. He was popular, athletic, successful in the classroom, on the football field and socially. Both of my older sisters went to the school as well. They were also great in the classroom and excellent athletes. Then I came along. I wanted to play football and do well in class, but the pressure to perform was incredible. How was I going to live up to the expectations that my name carried? It began to affect me on the field and in the classroom. Fortunately, my counselor was a senior at our high school when my dad was a freshman. He was able to give me insight into what my dad was like at my age. He was also my sisters' counselor when they were here. He helped me to relax, be myself and ask questions of my family about school and sports. This helped me to focus on being myself and staying on task for what was important to me. I ended up being an honor roll student as well as earning all-league first-team honors and defensive player of the year, something my dad never did. It showed me that my wandering mind was the cause of my mental stress and not my actual situation. One of the better ways I manage my mental health is through art. I was asked why I took a tough fourth art class as a senior when I only needed two to graduate. For me, art is a way to slow everything down and savor a process. Art is not like a fast-paced video game. You must take your time. And when you go slow, you can relax. When I am creating, I can let my mind be free to think about things other than what may be causing me pressure. I think about going to college next year. I think about the types of internships I will have. And I think about the great life I will live. Being slow and deliberate keeps me positive. And positivity as well as creativity is essential for good mental health.