It’s extremely common for kids my age to graduate high school and have absolutely zero idea what they want to do in life, while others have this insatiable thirst for some very specific thing. I am deeply attracted to marketing and I know at some point my entrepreneurial spirit and leadership drive will create my path for the future. I also know that pursuing a higher education is a major step of this path. Curiosities of my real-life experiences are what sparked my thinking, my reactions to them, and the knowledge I’ve gained from them. I have experiences every day, but every once in a while, I come face-to-face with those special experiences that actually make a difference, whether I know it at the time or not. My very first real-life, eye-opening experience was my first successful business proposal at age nine, in an attempt to convince my parents to buy me a phone. This is the moment I knew business and more specifically, marketing, was my future. Suffice to say at age fourteen, I started my own photography business. After a summer of honing my freelance photography skills, I was hired by a local lifestyle blogger as her personal assistant and photographer. Landing this incredible job, I discovered the whole concept of the social media marketing industry. I would love to play a role in paving the way for this new wave of advertising. Being such a new, up and coming field, I feel my personal experience was just the flame that ignited my intellectual curiosity about the online business world. My skill set is perfectly tailored to be successful in marketing. I love collaborating, blazing my own path with distinct style, and using my persuasive demeanor (remember the phone). Marketing provides a balance between utilizing an analytical mind and expressing creativity. I believe pursuing a higher education will allow me to refine these skills and apply them to real-world scenarios. My curiosity also fascinates me as to why I always seem to end up in a leadership role whenever I find myself in a group setting. Take my experience in Business Professionals of America for example. As a member of the Executive Board, as well as the Parliamentary Procedure Team President, I lead my team to first place in our region, qualifying for the State Leadership Conference. Ever since I can remember, I’ve naturally taken on a leadership role. While this may be mainly due to my type-A personality, this quality of mine also derives from the sense that I love playing a part in helping others grow and succeed. One of the points in my school career that extensively verified my leadership qualities was when I was elected to my school’s National Honors Society Executive Board. Taking on a leadership position in this highly competitive club allowed me to share ideas as well as help motivate others to contribute and find these leadership qualities within themselves. I gain so much more intellectual growth from not only pursuing development of my own assets, but in seeking opportunity to help others do the same. If someone were to ask me, what are you looking for in your next four years, I would respond: courses that push me, opportunities to study abroad, an internship that I am passionate about, and learning through serving others. Being someone who is always looking to gain new knowledge, pursuing a higher education at a major University embodies all that I seek to experience.

I once let my academic grades and athletic accomplishments define how I viewed myself. Reaching new goals, while satisfying in the moment, never provided lasting self-worth and happiness. This empty feeling and false motivation disappeared when I learned the importance of service. For the past three summers, I’ve attended an incredible Christian summer camp, Spring Hill. Joining the Teen Service Team (TST). As a TST volunteer, I spent four hours each day serving young campers in various ways, from cleaning dishes to landscaping. Often, it was challenging to watch others spend their time ziplining or competing on the ropes course while you’re fighting back pain after hours of weed whacking in the heat and cleaning dirty dishes in the kitchen. However, my 2020 summer camp leader, Thomas Lyon, made me realize why I continued to choose this seemingly “less fun” task. He put into words the feeling of accomplishment and worth I gained with every minute I served. Thomas taught me that it’s an honor to be able to do this work, seeing as camp would not be made possible without us volunteers, and thus, the kids would not get the life-changing experience they deserved. Through Thomas, I was able to understand that giving back is not a chore, but an opportunity to give others the incredible experiences I had as a young camper. In addition to serving alongside us, Thomas led my group’s bible study lessons, praying over us and connecting to each one of our individual relationships with the Lord in a way that none of my previous camp leaders had. Thomas was so incredible and in just one week, he was able to relate to me and create a community where I felt I could be vulnerable in my walk with Christ, and that will forever inspire me. I hope to always make others feel as welcome as I had that week at camp under Thomas’s guidance. Volunteering to serve young campers gave me a long-lasting sense of accomplishment that created a constant urge to serve others with everything I do. Being voted onto the National Honor Society Executive Board by my peers created a platform for me to put my new found passion into practice. In a position of leadership in such a high-achieving group of students, I was able to help others see that the 35 hours of required volunteer work to maintain a position in the club should not be viewed as a chore, but an honor. Likewise, my service experience will enrich a college campus because leading through example, I will inspire others to take similar, meaningful actions as a part of their higher education.