Growing up missing my left hand from the elbow down wasn't always easy. Sure, there were times when I struggled to button a shirt or zip up my coat, but the most frustrating part was elementary gym class, the place where every kid in my class felt the need to ask if I needed help participating in whatever activity we were doing. Or even worse, asking how I was going to do the said activity. Whenever I was asked how I would do something or if I needed help, I confidently replied, "No thanks, I've got this". While participating in gym class sometimes looked a little different than my peers (believe it or not, trying to dribble a basketball with your non-existent left hand can be a bit of a challenge), I always figured out how to make it work. My sports career started when I was in third grade, and I attended summer basketball camp. I participated in basketball camp every summer, but when junior high sports started, I didn't have much of an interest in playing basketball. In 6th grade, I joined the cross-country team, and I discovered my passion for running. This passion continued all the way until 7th grade, when I discovered volleyball, which I was sure was going to be my favorite sport. I loved playing volleyball because of the team aspect (plus it was pretty nice having parents from the other team come up to me and tell me how "inspiring" I was for playing volleyball with one hand). The pandemic of COVID-19 stopped my volleyball dream in its tracks, and I once again fell in love with running, but this time on the track. I ended up running cross country and track all four years of high school, and even ran at states with my 4x800 meter relay team last year. Although running seems to be a sport that an upper limb difference would not affect, it did come with its own set of challenges. For example, because my weight is unevenly distributed, it caused my form to be bad, and that was something I had to learn to fix in order to improve as an athlete. I also had to find ways to adapt in the weight room, as there were certain exercises that were hard for me to do. This looked like holding a dumbbell in my right hand and resting a plate on my arm in order to bench, using bands to assist in pull-ups, and doing weighted jump squats instead of using the trap bar. To me, being an adaptive athlete means being willing to show up even if you know that you might be doing things a little differently, and not being afraid of embarrassing yourself. Once, I was doing yoga with my team, and I had just started using a prosthetic to help when doing yoga or working out. Whenever I bent my arm, a pocket of air released, and my prosthetic made a farting sound during the near-silent yoga session! That was something that my teammates and I were able to laugh about after. Being able to laugh at yourself but then adjust until the desired result is a big part of being an adaptive athlete. Doing cross country and track and field has taught me how to be resilient, get out of my comfort zone, and work towards my goals. In the wise words of my track coach, "if you feel good when you're running, then you aren't running hard enough, and you've still got more in the tank".

Track coach, teacher, uncle, friend. These are all words I could use to describe my Uncle Tim (aka Coach Krupp). One night after I got home from school, my mom gathered my brothers, dad, and I into the living room. She told us that Uncle Tim had been diagnosed with stage four colon cancer, which had spread to his liver and lungs. The doctors said he would be lucky if he had a year left to live. The next week, Coach Krupp and Coach Jamie (my aunt) met with the girls' track team and told them about the diagnosis, saying that they wouldn't be coaching that year. That was a really tough day. I remember walking laps around my school after the meeting and hearing girls sobbing in the bathrooms. Once Uncle Tim was diagnosed, my family took immediate action. Uncle Tim started going to get treatment at City of Hope Cancer Center, and with the help of their naturopath, doing any diet or exercise that studies had shown fought cancer. I made it my mission to dedicate my track season to Coach Krupp. At one track meet, I achieved my personal record in the two-mile, and I called Uncle Tim and Aunt Jamie because they were at City of Hope; Uncle Tim was so excited that his nurse asked him what all of the commotion was about! Uncle Tim passed on September 15th, 2025. Since his diagnosis, he never stopped fighting or caring about everyone around him. Coach Krupp and Coach Jamie still coached track during my junior and senior years of high school, and Uncle Tim was the assistant football coach at the school where he taught. Losing Uncle Tim was very hard. I had never really encountered death before, and I certainly had never seen someone take their last breath until that night. Although losing someone as caring, funny, and loving as Uncle Tim is never a good thing, his cancer journey and death taught me how to appreciate life more. It reminded me of how we can often take people in our lives for granted and that we never know when God is going to call us, or a loved one, home to heaven. It reminded me to make every day count and to love others and glorify God, just like Uncle Timmy did. Life will probably never feel "normal" without Uncle Tim; there will always be an empty seat at family holidays, and my cousins will have to walk down the aisle without their dad. This year's freshman who run track will never get to hear Coach Krupp's stories, his jokes, or see his amazing dance moves. However, Uncle Tim's memory will forever live on, and so will his values: loving like Jesus and being passionate about everything you do; and that's my goal too. I plan on going to Olivet Nazarene University to pursue my calling of becoming a Youth Pastor. I hope that I can make an impact on teenagers, just like Uncle Tim did, helping them grow in their relationship with Jesus and have a safe community where they can have fun, but also be serious and grow in their faith. Unfortunately, attending a Christian college is very expensive, and I have already accepted that I will not make much money as a Youth Pastor, but I want to follow God's plan for my life and accept the calling He has given me. Thank you for considering me for this scholarship and helping me to honor my Uncle Timmy's memory by loving everyone like Jesus and being passionate about my calling.

I was raised in a Christian household and grew up going to church every Sunday. My parents were very involved in my church so my brothers and I joke that church was our second home. I was saved when I was 6 and chose to be baptized when I was in 3rd grade. I always believed in God, but like most children I was self centered and He was kind of just an add on to my day. When I was in 7th grade, Covid-19 started and the world was shut down. My mom has an autoimmune disease so I became very anxious that my mom would get Covid and die from it. I also started to struggle with seeing myself as God saw me and started to dislike my body and workout excessively and track calories because of it. This seemed to make me feel better for a little bit because it felt as if I had some control over my life, but after a while I ended up feeling empty, depressed, and anxious. This is when I decided to turn to God. I started reading my Bible everyday, praying, and strengthening my relationship with the Lord. I finally felt peace and joy in my life, not temporary happiness, but true joy. Fast forward to my sophomore year and my uncle was diagnosed with cancer. This was a big test to my faith. I wondered how a good God could let such pain happen to such a good person. However I kept trusting that God had a plan, remembering my favorite Bible verse, Jeremiah 29:11. On October 15th, 2025 my Uncle Timmy passed away. I was absolutely devastated and for a little while I blamed God. The day after he passed I was driving home from my brother’s cross country meet crying and questioning God. On top of this, that month I was also reading in Jeremiah and during that time it felt like God had abandoned his people. I felt like He had abandoned me too. It was raining during my drive and I asked God to give me a rainbow if he was still with me. Moments after I prayed that, a rainbow appeared. Over time God revealed to me that although He hadn’t healed Uncle Tim in the way that I wanted him to be healed, he is fully healed in heaven now. Seeing Uncle Tim pass also made Jesus’ sacrifice more real to me. Prior to seeing Uncle Tim pass, I had never seen anyone die and had never seen how painful it was. I realized that Uncle Tim didn’t choose to die, but Jesus chose to die a terrible and painful death just to save me. The Lord had called me to pursue a career in youth ministry. I am currently participating in a 5th year program through my high school where I take classes through my local community college and my high school pays for them. I am also working at my church as the youth leader. I plan to go to Olivet Nazarene University the fall of 2026 to obtain a degree in youth ministry. I hope to serve God in everything I do and help teenagers have a relationship with Him. My main goal is to know Jesus and make Him known. This scholarship would help me be able to go to Olivet Nazarene University to pursue God’s calling on my life. As Olivet Nazarene is a private university it is quite expensive so this scholarship would help me immensely. Thank you for your consideration.

“Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself” are words printed on a sign in my room. For a long time this quote was, well, just a quote. In the world of high school, it seemed easier to conform to the norms instead of being my true self- and living out my faith. I was known as the “nice Christian girl”, but I never truly lived out my faith. I was too scared of people judging me. I decided to face this fear during a school tradition called mock rock. Mock rock is a contest where students can either create mock acts to different songs, skits, etc., or they can participate in the live acts which includes singing and/or playing an instrument. Being the shy individual that I am, I wanted nothing to do with Mock Rock, however my friends convinced me that I should participate. My freshman and sophomore years I was in a mock act with my friends. My junior year I decided to be serious about sharing my faith and used Mock Rock as an opportunity to do so. I participated in a live act and my friend and I sang a Christian song. I was extremely nervous to this because no one at school had heard me sing before and singing a Christian song meant potential status decline, but I decided to be my true self anyway. There were a lot of kids who thought I was lame for choosing the song that I did, but a lot of my peers said that I inspired them to be bolder in their faith. The moral of my story is that there will be people who will judge you if you stand out, but a small act of courage can change someone’s day or even their life. I was born into a family who runs. When I entered 6th grade there was no doubt in my mind that I would run track and field. This love/hate relationship with running lead me to my junior year of track season. The upper class men were responsible for being the leaders of the team’ helping and mentoring the younger athletes. In the new batch of freshman that year there was a girl who joined the distance running crew that I was apart of. Her name was Jaylee. Jaylee didn’t really seem to fit in with the rest of her grade, she didn’t have any friends on the track team, and was a bit clueless about the sport. So the other distance girls and I decided to take her under our wing, encouraging her and making sure she was included in our tight knit group. Jaylee improved so much over that season and she always did everything with a simile, never complaining. We wanted Jaylee to come out for cross country but she never did. Earlier this year, my uncle, who was also our track coach passed away due to cancer. All of the track athletes and a lot of the community came to the track for a final lap with Coach Krupp. Jaylee was there and she looked a little awkward, like she didn’t know what to do, so I gave her a hug. Although it was just a hug you could tell in her eyes that it meant so much to her. We cried together and I told her that Coach Krupp was so proud of her and that I hoped she came out for track this next season. I’m glad that I was able to honor Coach Krupp’s legacy and show kindness to Jaylee.