When I was a young child, my father has always been the biggest role model for me. I distinctly remember being at a wedding as a young boy, roughly eight years of age. My father's friends and other dads and adults were all drinking beers and getting loud and drunk and my dad was having fun with them without drinking the alcohol. I have very rarely ever seen my dad drink in my eighteen years of life and he's been a pristine role model to me of what dedication and hard work can get you. He was the first of his family to graduate college and the most successful of all of his siblings. He went and attended Indiana University and graduated undergraduate with a major in Biology and took his knowledge to Optometry school where he has since become the local Optometrist for my home town Boonville, Indiana. He has been a good father, slow to anger, pushes me to be my best, and been a dedicated husband.

The lights seemed to get brighter. The sweat dripped down my face. The crowd was deafening. The other team shouting what appeared to be nonsense. My heart was pounding in my chest. I found myself in one of the most stressful plays of my career. I was bent over, hands on knees, right in front of the ten-foot line. Our team had come back from a seven-point deficit with a score of twelve to five. We now were tied up thirteen to thirteen after five serves in a row, a missed serve, and then three more to tie it up. Their coach called a timeout when we tied it up with two points to go in the final game of the tournament. The Metro Volleyball Club coach, Ashton Macaulay, had decided to run a play we hardly even touched on in practice. He called on me to take charge, he had faith I could do it and I had faith in myself too. Heading out of time out we had the serve. I was in rotation as a middle hitter, the play was simple - a slide, I run to the right side of the setter as the right-side hitter slides into the middle position. A risky, yet effective play to catch the other team’s blockers off guard. Everything had to be perfectly executed and I knew just exactly what to do. The serve was up, the other team had excellent serve-receive and I noticed the setter’s shoulders and the middle hitter’s approach. I side-stepped in front of the middle hitter’s approach and timed the block flawlessly, I jumped and pushed my arms over the net - the ball seemed to move in slow motion - and then it hit the ground, straight down on their side! The crowd boomed with cheers as our team now had the lead heading into the game point. The pressure was on, the service was up and the other team received the ball. The pass was wild and they ended up sending over a freeball - my time had come. Our libero passed the ball precisely with enough arch for me to time my jump. The ball arched into our setter’s hands, his shoulders squared he pushed the ball slightly behind him and on my right shoulder. I jumped off one foot to get even more air and made contact on top of the ball . . . BOOM. A shot right at the ten-foot line with no chance to let the other team get it up. We had won the last game of our tournament by two points and I had experienced the adrenaline rush of a lifetime. This will forever be one of my favorite moments on any court. My passions for this sport run deep. I was raised into watching my sisters play all through my childhood. I grew up playing backyard volleyball with my two older sisters Bethany and Natalie. They achieved many amazing goals while on the team. The eldest, Natalie, was a middle hitter and I picked up much of my play from her. Bethany was an outside hitter and played into college where throughout middle school I was able to watch and admire the skills of many collegiate level players. I never had any experience other than the backyard games my family played. Until my junior year, recently after leaving the basketball team after years of playing, in the neighboring county, the Metro Volleyball league of Evansville instilled a men’s travel team. This was my chance to play and I gladly jumped on the opportunity. No schools in the area of southwest Indiana had offered any volleyball clubs or teams and this was the first true availability in the tristate to play. After trying out and making the team, I was the only player in my county to be on the team, let alone try out. I wanted to share my passion to play with others and out of the ten players on the team, I was able to recruit two more players the next year to play. Coach Ashton had noticed my refined ability to convince and lead others so he placed me as team captain. This is proof of my dedication to growing the game. I will be forever grateful for the opportunities volleyball has given me and I desire to continue growing it in my community for generations to come.

Inspiration comes in many different forms and motivates people to perform life-changing acts. Growing up I have always admired my father. I saw his desire to succeed and to consistently put food on the table and make our family's lives fun and enjoyable. Despite the adversity of the past year, he has continued to persevere and provide for our family. Although my father has experienced many great successes throughout his career as an Optometrist, the events of the past year have left him barely breaking even. My mom had to pick up a job as a Jazzercise instructor to make ends meet. They both avoid mentioning any financial burdens around the family, but I am not blind to the fact that my parents are struggling. My mother and father have always driven me to be the best in the classroom, sports, and at work. I decided to use this drive in order to help them back. I have driven myself to be at the top of the class at Boonville High School out of roughly 250 students in my class. My parents have inspired me to do my part in aiding my future education by also picking up two jobs. I strive to achieve excellence in school and have proven myself by retaining a flawless 4.0 GPA while making sure to distinguish myself in the classroom and on the court. I am on course to become valedictorian while surpassing my teacher's expectations and performing well in my Advanced Placement and Dual Credit classes. My parents have driven me to do well in sports and I received Academic All-State in Tennis, 1st Team All-Conference, and Team MVP. My intent is to assist my parents so that I can attend the prestigious Indiana University Bloomington without becoming financially burdensome to them. This goal drives me to exceed the expectations of all my supervisors. Whether the teaching staff at Boonville, my supervisors in the County Auditor's Office and Vector Marketing, and my coaches for tennis, volleyball, and golf. The Warrick County Auditor's Office in the Judicial Center has employed me now for eight months. I have impressed my boss with my drive to be the best enough to convince them to offer me a full-time position following my high school graduation. I surpassed many of the goals that my supervisor set for me as an SMRA at Vector Marketing for Cutco that they offered me a promotion to the sales representative position. Unfortunately, I had to decline as I can only balance so much with sports, work, school, and community service. Despite my nonstop schedule, my parents' own perseverance has driven me to push on even more and become the best at whatever I do. They inspire me to perform to the peak of my ability and my goal to reduce the financial burden of college has driven me to succeed. On top of all of this, I am a HUGE Steelers fan and admire Juju's excellence on and off the field.

Kindness can be demonstrated in countless ways and to numerous people. Kindness truly costs nothing but means everything. The more kindness we share the more joy we can add to another person's life. I experienced this life lesson firsthand after the passing of my grandfather. My grandpa Bob was the kindest, most selfless man I ever had the pleasure to encounter. He cared for my family and I sincerely. We had a very close bond and after he passed in eighth grade I was devastated. I am usually a happy and upbeat student in school, but after grandpa's passing, I found myself disheveled. Many people noticed my demeanor change, but few did anything to aid in my mourning. A young woman by the name of Augast Lashley pulled me out of this state of disrepair. She saw my attitude change completely and decided to act on it. She showed up at my house with a tub of my favorite ice cream (you can't beat cookies n cream), a movie to watch, and a big, warm hug. I hadn't realized, but a simple hug was about the only thing I could ask for. That minuscule act of kindness to just hug me made me feel infinitely better. I had received sympathy hugs from random strangers at my grandfather's funeral and pats on the back, but I had yet to receive a sincere and honest hug. When Augast hugged me and told me that she was there for me if I needed anything, my attitude was completely changed. Augast had been my best friend for 2 years prior and she knew just what to do to help her best friend in shambles. We put on a Marvel movie and started eating ice cream and just talked. This opportunity to just talk about anything and get my mind off my grandpa was more help than any medicine. She helped me to not only feel better emotionally but to mentally increase my well-being by just giving me a distraction from the melancholy feeling that developed. People don't realize anymore how simply reaching out to a friend, checking upon them, and letting them know how you truly care for them means more than anyone will know. Augast taught me a valuable lesson that day by showing up at my house after my grandad's funeral reception. She taught me that going out of your way to spread love to a friend in need or going through burdensome times can be the world of difference in a person's life. I will forever cherish the kindness and love shown to me by Augast and I pray that many others have a person in their life like Augast to show them kindness when they desperately need it.

Racial injustice is and continues to be a rising issue in this nation. I have experienced it firsthand multiple times in my hometown. My two best friends are both young, black males and we live in a rather prejudiced area. They tell me harrowing stories of when people have said and done terrible things to them just on account of their skin color. These two are some of the nicest, most caring people I know and definitely the best people in my life. And to witness when other people will have the audacity to use the n-word towards them while they're just minding their own business is ridiculous. This of course is no simple problem to solve, but Mechanism is no simple company either. My friends deserve to live in a world where they are not treated any differently on the basis of their appearance before people even get the chance to know them. Exploring the Mechanism website, I discovered many amazing attributes of this company. The company appears to be on the right track to solving many compelling problems within our nation. However, the most riveting issue in this nation at the moment is racial injustice. This is a more than worthy problem for Mechanism to focus their efforts. In just the past year alone the nation was shown the racial inequality throughout the nation as a whole. We saw the police treat the Black Lives Matter protests with complete and udder disrespect. This is representative of the nation as a whole being racially prejudiced if the very enforcers of law themselves are treating people of different ethnicities unfairly. Systemic racism is also a continuing issue in the nation. This especially is no easy fix considering it has been built into the very system of this country. We must use social engineering to solve this problem. Social engineering is no straightforward concept though. It is the process of creating more opportunities for the African American community by quite literally changing the world itself. Not only must we change society to mold around understanding the cultural differences between people, but we must instill a willingness in the people themselves to be more accepting. I believe that Mechanism has the capabilities to explore ways to invite this change in the nation. The more that the society of America becomes accepting of these changes, the more successful we will become as a nation. Solving this issue will be highly beneficial to the future of the nation. This problem is worth focusing on more than almost any other issue in this nation. Giving equal opportunities to everyone despite the color of their skin or their background is almost as necessary as solving the homelessness crisis. However, the root of much of the homelessness in this nation is in fact due to systemic racism. The opportunities are not there for many people of color to find jobs to support themselves and their families. I believe Mechanism can start this change by opening up their own company to more opportunities for different cultures and ethnicities. Once they take this first step in social engineering for African Americans and beyond many other companies will be more likely to follow in their footstep. Putting an end to the racial injustices brought to the spotlight in our nation throughout the events that occurred this past year must be the number one priority of many corporations throughout the country as a whole.