From the moment I was born, Taylor Swift's music has impacted my life. I was born in May of 2006, and Taylor Swift released her debut album six short months afterward, so I practically grew up with her music in my life. When she announced her rerelease of her albums, my inner child was so happy. I counted the days and came up with theories of when her next release was going to occur, and to this day I have been most excited for 1989 (tv). I was given the original album as a present from my little brother on my birthday in 2015, and I spent hours listening to the entire album. My heart songs and ones that I was so excited to hear re-released were "Clean", "Say Don't Go", "Slut!", and "New Romantics". These four songs are all very different, but they each hold a special meaning in my heart. "Clean" has been a healing song for me after I broke up with my abusive boyfriend. It helped me feel better and get the idea that everything was my fault out of my head. It helped me come to terms with what happened, and it helped me feel empowered after everything I had been through. "Say Don't Go" is a song that helped me through rough patches with my current boyfriend of two years. When I feel like I may have ruined things between us, I listen to this song and it makes me feel so much better, I feel understood and heard. I also connect with this song because we have almost broken up many times, and I prayed each time that he would stay. He has and thankfully we have been able to resolve everything and find healthier ways to communicate. "Slut!" is just an amazing song in general, lyrically and musically. It is a perfect representation of how it feels to love someone no matter what others are saying about you, and that all that matters is you and the other person love each other unconditionally. "New Romantics" was my favorite song off of the original 1989 album, because it is just a fun song. It is upbeat and makes you feel good, like nothing anyone says can tear you down. That is what I love most about it and what makes it a summer playlist staple for me. It is perfect for sunny weather and even nights you are just driving around.

Out of all the sports I have played throughout the years, track has been my heart sport. My love for this started when I was in fifth grade, and I went to one of my cousins track meets. I was enthralled with the amount of people attending, but I was even more intrigued by the hurdling events. How could these people run so fast AND jump over an object? I was in awe, so when I reached sixth grade, I signed up for junior high track as soon as I could. I fell in love with hurdling, and I made it my top priority. Every day I woke up excited to attend practice and jump over the hurdles. Missing my eight grade track season was super hard for me, because I missed out on a key time for developing my skills. This didn't stop me from making my own hurdles and practicing with them at home, and I came back my freshman year ready for whatever high school track would bring me. I also began throwing shot put and discus my freshman year, which was a super fun way to spice up my schedule and for me to learn something new. I began lifting after practice and grew myself as an athlete, and it showed. I placed seventh at the regional meet my sophomore year, and was 13th in the state that year. My junior year I placed fourth at regionals in disc and sadly fell short at state, placing 10th. This year I am ready to improve myself and push myself to the limit. The ability to push myself and determine my own success is what I love most about track. I am responsible for my own success and failure in this sport, and if I want to be better, then I have to change. I love the accountability the sport gives you, because it is all on your own. You are the only thing standing in between success and failure, and you are the only person who can change the outcome of your race. I love the feeling in my lungs after I ran sprints and I love the feeling of pushing yourself till you cannot walk anymore. It is an amazing feeling to look back at a hard practice and know you pushed yourself to your limits, and that you did the best you could. Improvement is determined by the effort you put in, and that has helped me direct that same philosophy into my every day life. I have made myself that much stronger because I decided to change myself and put forth the extra effort, and I believe that is a great skill to have.

My favorite animal is easily a horse. I have competed in FFA horse judging for four years, and I have placed sixth overall and fourth in reasons last year at the state level. Our team has won second and third at the state contest for two years in a row and I am looking to work towards becoming an AQHA certified judge, as horse judging has remained one of my favorite contests to compete in. I am currently serving as out FFA's second vice president, and was our reporter before that. Living on a ranch, horses have been my life-long teammates no matter what I do. I have competed in rodeo for two years for our town rodeo club, and I have excelled in judging. Because I could not afford a high-dollar rodeo horse, I trained my ranch horses to compete in breakaway, barrel racing, pole bending, and some goat tying (I'll admit the goat tying is not a pretty sight). Working with these animals gives me a deeper appreciation for them, and has bettered me as a rider. I pride myself in my horses versatility and calm demeanor in the arena, because I am willing to put in the work and keep to a routine. I am no stranger to the hardships working with these animals can bring and have been in a few accidents myself, from getting thrown off to spending hours trying to get a horse to load in a trailer. Nevertheless, my love for these animals holds true and I wish to work with them all my life, as well as continue to train them and learn from each horse I own. I have been interested in radiology and scanning for a few years, and decided the best way to combine my love for both is to dual major in radiology and equine management, so that I may become and equine ultrasound tech. I also plan to use my equine management skills to raise and breed my own herd of performance horses. This scholarship will help me greatly by adding an extra layer of security for me to dual major and work towards that goal. I am also a first generation student, so my family is very excited to hear about me wanting to pursue a higher education. My brother is also planning on going to a post-secondary institution, so my parents cannot pay for both of us to attend school. While I am going to a community college, I am planning on bringing my horses with me and keeping them at our schools facility, which has it's own expenses that I have to cover myself. I thank you for taking your time to read this, and I look forward to hearing from you in the future.

It all started when during COVID. I was just 14 years old when I started realizing I was gaining a bit of weight, and my mom had noticed too. She constantly made comments on how much I had gained since being stuck at home, and it began to wear on me and I started to think, "is there something wrong with the way I look?" I have always been a healthy person, and looking back at it, I was still healthy. I decided to limit my eating severely and decided that nothing I did was enough. I lost touch with the people around me and became very reserved, so much so that I didn't have anyone to talk to about my problems. This was incredibly harmful to my mental health and I fell into a very dark place. However, I was looking at all of my Instagram role models and I saw something that caught my eye. It was a woman talking about how her relationship with God pulled her out of the same situation. I started reading my scriptures in the morning when I woke up, and it helped me to pull out of this rut I was in. Along with this, the weather was warmer and I returned to rodeo. Rodeo gave me a whole new light, because it was something that didn't make me feel like I needed to look a certain way to compete. Now, I have been growing my relationship with myself and the people around me. I am happy in my body and I have developed healthy eating habits. I have gotten the help I needed and I am happier than ever, this has helped me to surround myself with people who support me no matter what and encourage me to pursue what I want. My experience has also made me want to help others as well. I am looking to become a radiologic technician so I can help people feel better and solve their problems. If need be, I am always willing to be a shoulder for them to cry on and be the person they can talk to. No one is alone in this world and everyone has a story. There are going to be many stories that I hear, and it makes me excited to help in some way. I have been blessed to have pulled myself out of my situation before it is too late, and others are not so lucky. If I am awarded this scholarship, I am planning to double major and take some counseling certification classes in order to help others in the way God has helped me. I want to give people faith and let them know that it is ok and someone always cares.