I come from a family of four girls, and my sisters are a huge part of who I am. We’re all close, but my oldest sister has always been someone I look up to. She’s incredibly independent and has moved across the country multiple times to take on new jobs and start fresh in places where she didn’t know anyone. Watching her do that showed me what it looks like to bet on yourself. She’s the reason I decided to move to Chicago this summer to live with her while I work in a corporate strategy role for a sports company. It feels like the first step toward the kind of career in business that I want to build. Sports have shaped me just as much as my family has. In high school, I played men’s tackle football for two years and flag football for one. I was the only girl on the team, and that experience taught me how to hold my ground, earn respect, and lead with confidence. As the quarterback for our flag team, I helped lead us to a county championship and earned team MVP and All-County honors. Those moments gave me a sense of belief in myself that I still carry. At UC San Diego, I’m now the captain of the women’s lacrosse team, and we recently won our conference championship. Leading a team at this level has taught me how to communicate, stay composed under pressure, and bring people together toward a shared goal. I’ve also taken on leadership roles off the field. I serve as VP of Finance for my business fraternity and work as an investment analyst for our student-run investment fund, which manages a 1.4 million dollar portfolio that helps provide scholarships to students. Being part of that has shown me how much scholarships can change someone’s path, and I know I would benefit from that same support. My long term dream is to work on the corporate side of the NFL. Football gave me so many opportunities in high school, and the Rams even invested in me by sharing my story and letting me speak about women in sports and business on their Instagram. That experience made me realize how powerful representation can be and how much I want to be part of that world. My future plans center on building a career in strategy and finance, continuing to challenge myself, and creating opportunities for others the way people have created them for me. This scholarship would help me keep moving toward those goals with more stability and less financial strain, and it would mean a lot to be supported by something created in Stephan’s memory.

One day, my friend and I were practicing lacrosse when we stumbled upon a spare football on the wrong side of the field. She set the ball down on the 20 yard line and after a few minutes of promising I wouldn’t kick her hand, I sent the ball flying through the uprights. Then I did it again. And again. Unbeknownst to me, those field goals would become a gateway to a world of athletic and social opportunities. As I was leaving the field, I was approached by the varsity football coach who told me the entire team had been watching my kicks and the team needed a new kicker. He invited me to practice the next day. But how could this be? Girls don’t play tackle football. I wrestled with the idea of playing football the rest of that day and night. It terrified me to think about practice with my athletic capability on full display. My friends advised against me playing. Nevertheless, something about playing intrigued me and, despite being terrified, I decided the least I could do is show up. A few weeks later, as the first game approached, my biggest fear was not about missing a kick, but rather a potential failure being viewed as an excuse to say “we shouldn’t have let a girl on the team.” Finally, my opportunity arrived. I took my three steps back and two to the side, braids sticking out of my helmet, hundreds of people watching. Set. Hike. Now is my chance. I would love to tell you that I kicked it through the uprights and the crowd erupted, as I single-handedly solved gender inequality in America. However, after a bad snap, a defender blindsided me and I went flying through the air, my helmet tumbling on the ground 10 yards away from me. A hush fell over the crowd. I got up laughing. I didn’t get to kick, but I learned that I can take a hit. Despite that early failure, later in the season I earned the nickname Miss Automatic for my consistent extra points. Although life may throw things at you (or quite literally get you thrown), I learned the value in adapting my definition of success. I also learned that if you enjoy something but there isn’t space for you, you can make space. This same lesson further fostered my love for politics. I’ve had a deep passion for politics since a very young age. In elementary school, my dream was to become President, but the lack of women in the upper echelons of government dampened those desires for a while. However, my experience on the gridiron, earning respect in a traditionally male-dominated world, reignited my dream for politics because it taught me I can make space for myself, even if it scares me. I’m particularly grateful for the unexpected connections I found with many of my teammates. Although the teamwork and camaraderie I found on my team isn’t often found in our current political environment, I believe it is possible. We just need more people willing to find “teammates” in unexpected places and work toward a common goal rather than for personal (political) gain. Through my experience of being a female trailblazer on the football team, I challenged the status quo. Through studying political science, I would like to further create new paths for everybody and leave a lasting impact on the world. I now understand that our team–the United States of America–suffers when the best players remain on the sidelines.