Soccer was the first love that I stepped away from and went back to end off highschool. I was at the point of tears with soccer and I hated at times how attached I was to this sport. During my childhood, I was always playing basketball for fun but I was playing club soccer from 3rd grade until 8th grade. I didn't play organized basketball until 6th grade and it use to be different seasons so I was able to balance it. Eventually, I had to choose between the two and I constantly wanted to go play for better clubs in soccer but I never found the courage to do so. I loved basketball way more than soccer heading into high school so I chose to play that my freshmen year. Basketball was alright in my freshmen year as I struggled with confidence despite being a good shooter. I loved playing with my friends though and I had a memorable season. Then COVID hit and everything took a turn. COVID didn't hinder the amount of workouts I was getting in and I was still focused on becoming the best basketball player I can be. That year which was my sophomore year, they had a team but for my safety and my family's safety, I didn't play. I had aspirations of going pro but after junior year I couldn't deal with the burden of basketball anymore. In my junior year, I was put on the JV roster after coming back from the pandemic and all the coaches thought I didn't love the sport because I didn't play sophmore year. They showed so much hatred towards me and I told myself I would transition back to soccer for my senior year. In my senior year, I went back to soccer and it was a great decision. I made many more new friends and had a coach who truly wanted the best for me. On the first day of tryouts, the coach asked me where I had been all this time and I told him I was playing basketball. He embraced me with open arms and everything seemed too good to be true. So we had gone a month into the season and we had a good record but a lot of my teammates didn't share the same passion as me. They would goof off during practice and show no kind of respect to the coach. The season started in December so we had some games before winter break and after winter break is what angered me the most. We came back after the break and went on a 4 game-losing streak with a combined total of 28 goals conceded. On that 4th game we lost, I got into a shouting match with my teammates and that day I wanted to quit. I then went home and cried my eyes out. I felt like I was contributing to a dead cause and from then on I was so disconnected the whole rest of the season. Luckily I found it in me to still finish strong in our last week when we played our rivals and had our senior night. I received a lot of love and realized the amount of support I truly have. I showed my teammates all my appreciation at the end of the season and what I learned most throughout high school and through soccer is perseverance and courage. Without this experience, I wouldn't have become as mentally strong as I am and I still talk to my teammates and have built a second family that I never expected.

A business I believe that I could start in my local community is a clothing business. I think this would help out as more specifically I would be interested in making puffer jackets or stylish raincoats. I think this is much needed as year by year the amount of rain that we get in our area is increasing yet I see people with normal clothes and an umbrella or just running to their car/ride. I know that people don't want to hold their puffer jackets or look silly so my aim in creating stylish puffers and/or raincoats is so people can have fashion along with protection. How I would go about developing this business is using Instagram and Snapchat and following many people from my school and allowing for word-of-mouth promotion to help me gain more publicity in the overall community. I would follow many of my classmates or peers and even market it by wearing it to school and proving that you can make outfits with my jackets. The obstacles would include people wanting a bigger name to wear, not caring if they already have one or just not caring in general. How I would navigate these obstacles is I would first talk to the closest people I know that would for sure rock my clothing brand. I would select 5 of my closest friends and I would give each of them a free hoodie. Then I would tell him when talking to other people to initiate conversations by saying "This hoodie is something you should get" or "This by far is one of the best jackets I have in my collection". Others usually would follow up by saying "I like it where did you get it from?" and this would be my way of having my friends help my clothing brand. Another way of marketing that I believe can be my main marketing strategy is partnering with the school. My school sells all types of merchandise so I can collaborate with them by putting my design on the front of my jacket and putting a jet on the back of it as that is our mascot. This would be very effective because all the money that is earned is used for school events and activities and parents/families are always be inclined to buy it because they know their money is going to help the school improve. Then I would talk with the principal and an important staff member that is in charge of merchandise and negotiate a deal to receive 50% of the sales for my jacket and I would make my jacket put on the flyers as my clothing brand. I would even give free jackets or raincoats to some teachers that I know would be glad to put my brand and wear my brand out there. I believe that this would be very successful and not only benefit me but the great school that I'm graduating from.

My experience with cancer has not been the best as I lost my best friend to it. He seemed perfectly fine just 5 days before and I was texting him every day not knowing that those would be our last conversations. It happened at the start of my junior year and it's still hard to cope with nearing the end of my senior year. I have become a much more appreciative person after his death and I start to value every minute with friends and family because you never know when it will end. My gratitude for everybody in my life has increased and I want to make sure that they understand the love I have for them. I was very nonchalant before his death and I was neutral about everything. I never showed any type of emotion and even on some days I still go back to my old personality which I hate. I'm typically a very quiet person and I would normally hold grudges on people. I'm still trying to be a better person when it comes to that because me being emotionless and numb may make the people around me feel like I don't like them. I don't have any disliking toward anyone in my circle but sometimes I still have so much anger about the situation that I don't want it to go upon people. I'm still in a state of shock and questioning because it happened so suddenly. I try to cope by isolating myself a lot too and I cope with his death through many healthy habits that have resulted in me cutting off a lot of people. Many of the habits that I do now are what I have implemented into my daily life after his death. I continue to work out at the gym where I usually feel a sense of belonging and the most productive. The new habits though include journaling, drawing, and going on walks. I never thought I would get into it but I felt a lot of peace after incorporating these new activities and when I can, I do all of these. I would say going on walks is what I love the most because the fresh air clears my mind and relaxes it. Because of his death, I fell into deep depression so walks were my number one outlet because the extremity of my depression was to the point of harming myself. I never found any relief from talking about my emotions so I would just get out of the house and listen to music. Most importantly though, I got closer to God and the idea of everything happening for a reason. This made me understand that maybe his death was to motivate me or for me to find ways to navigate when at rock bottom which I think I have done. I constantly miss him every second but life goes on so I must too.

The "Mamba Mentality" is a mentality that emphasizes the significance of an extreme level of work ethic and a required ambition to obtain in order to be successful in any field/career that you pursue. This mentality was presented and instilled in a man named Kobe Bryant. The late great Kobe Bryant was one of the best basketball players to ever grace planet Earth and that was due to his inhumane work ethic. He was obsessed with becoming a better basketball player and dedicated his whole life to basketball making many sacrifices to fulfill his basketball potential. He has been missed dearly by the basketball world but to this day he still influences many people through his "Mamba Mentality" that he carried throughout his career. Kobe Bryant through this mentality has influenced me and has been a factor that contributes to my discipline. When Kobe died, I was in shock and I still can't believe he is gone. He had a series on ESPN that he started once he retired from basketball called "Detail". He would break down film on certain players and usually the high-caliber players on why certain moves they made were effective and the very minimal details that can separate it from tricking the defender or not. I strongly adored this series and I was able to become a smarter basketball player on the court and it improved my game tremendously. I would also watch his motivational videos before my games as even when I transitioned to playing soccer my senior year which was my first love. the motivational videos were still applicable and got me locked in before the games. Not only did he influence my athletics but also my persona and discipline off the court or field. I began to become extremely focused when it came to my academics even more and I understood that the sacrifices I made by not going to parties, going out with friends, and staying in on weekend nights to do my homework and my responsibilities will help me later. I may not see it later but if I have the "Mamba Mentality" then I will continue to get to my end goal. I love this locked-in mentality that I have adapted and sometimes it is tough when friends think you are ignoring them or don't like them but deep down you are just doing what you need to do that pays off later. I'm highly influenced by Kobe Bryant and he is my biggest role model exempting my parents because he taught me the value of a disciplined mentality and how exactly an ambitious work ethic is what some people avoid for temporary pleasure or fulfillment.

What creating an impact means to me is to change something for the better. Whether it's as small as a compliment or as big as giving money or gifting someone a car. Everybody has their situation and they know what they need exactly that can make their life better or improve it. Sometimes creating an impact doesn't have to be directed toward you. Having healthy habits is being able to create an impact on yourself and setting yourself on the right path. Creating an impact is up for interpretation but what it means to me is helping those in whatever they may be struggling with and becoming a different person for the better through healthy habits. How I have created an impact in my own life regarding others is by helping my little cousin bring up his grades. He and I use to always joke about his grades and I would mess around with him about it but as we got closer to the semester, his grades were still bad. Then, as a freshman, I told him that this would be his easiest year and I started to teach him how to establish good habits to make sure he got grades. I helped him create an easy schedule to follow that consisted of what time he got home when he would do his homework, when he would take a break and eat, then lastly when he would sleep. At first, he dreaded it because he would constantly go out after school to hang out with his friends but now he was starting to realize the focus it takes to maintain a good GPA. I would encourage and continuously tell him that this will pay off later because he was only seeing minimal improvement in his grades that he felt wasn't that big of a difference. As a junior at the time, I'm thinking about college even more intensely as I get closer to it and I made sure that he thought about his future and not temporary fulfillment by going out. He was at around a 1.8 GPA when we established the schedule around the end of March and by the time we got near to June, he was able to get a 3.0 GPA. He then was happy and he along with his family thanked me for getting him on the right path. To this day, he continues with the same schedule and he is used to it as now he has the discipline rather than the motivation to get his work done. What my cousin didn't know, was I also struggled in elementary. My dad sat me down after one of my report cards came in and after he lectured me on the importance of grades, he created a schedule for me that has become engraved in me now. I saw me when I was helping my little cousin and his situation was more intense as he was disregarding school in the closing stretch aka high school. Bettering others and yourself is what creating an impact means to me.

My name is Robel Bemnet and I struggle with academic validation and extreme stress that stems from external pressure. I’m a 4.3 GPA student and I have a lot of pressure as a first generation college student to succeed and help my parents out a lot. I am more than capable of making out my life to be successful but the pressure can be stressful. I constantly think about my future because I want to repay my parents for all the hard work they put in in order to provide for me. They are truly two of the hardest working people I know and I try not to make excuses because they are going through the same struggle as me. Due to this pressure though I’m constantly seeking academic validation and for the most part I’m able to fulfill that. Those times when I don’t is when my mental becomes really bad. I have a lot of bad thoughts and start to think I’m worthless. I feel that I’ve failed everyone around me if I don’t do the very best and I feel that I have to be perfect so I can help my family later. The burden is really really heavy and I don’t want experience any disappointment because I try to think that everything happens for a reason and people can go through worse. That’s why when I have these terrible thoughts that sometimes is about harming myself, I listen to music or I workout. I play basketball and soccer too on top of school and those two sports are my outlet when anything goes wrong in my life. It’s my peace and it’s nothing better than juggling my soccer ball or shooting shots at my local park while listening to music. My stress goes away momentarily but it works everytime and this treatment as never failed me. This is something I want to continue once I get older too because I know life will get more stressful but I want to have financial stability the most. My parents are doing good at that but once I get to college that may not be the case. College is expensive so I want to make sure that I’m getting our moneys worth and I’m working as hard as I can to have a better life. If possible, I want to do something in the basketball field or soccer field like being a trainer or a coach because I feel like I can’t give up on it so easily but realistically I want to be in the business field and one day be a part of a great marketing team and have a loving family on my own with no problems at all.

Someone that deeply inspired me is my best friend who sadly passed away on November 14, 2021. He became my why but also someone who was always there for me when he was here. He truly wanted the best for me and we told everything to each other and had aspirations to go to UC Berkeley together and chase our goal at bare minimum of financial stability. It truly hit me at his funeral because someone that knew me inside out was suddenly gone in a snap and I knew that whether it was basketball or soccer, I have to play my heart even more and always dig deep to make him proud. My name is Robel Bemnet and I play basketball and soccer. I fell in love with soccer the minute I came out the womb and watching the 2014 World Cup only ignited my love for soccer even more as I remember to this day the masterclass that Neymar had performed. I was introduced to soccer by my father as that sport was all he knew growing up. Basketball was more of a sport I found by myself and truly begun loving in 4th grade. I would always play basketball at recess and playing with my friends made basketball enjoyable and fun. I kept balancing soccer and basketball for so long but once I got to high school I had to make a decision between basketball or soccer because they happened in the same season. I went with basketball because of a fallout I had with my middle school soccer coach as he had taken away my love for soccer by taking away my confidence. Basketball was great my freshmen year and I did decent I would say and right after my season Covid happened and everything had changed. Over quarantine due to the lack of social interaction, I had begun to find my peace by myself and the only person I would talk to is my best friend. On days I felt grumpy and on my best days, he was there for me every day, every minute, and every second. Covid had impacted my sophomore year and sadly I wasn’t able to play any sports so all I could do is workout at home. We had returned my junior year and I finally got to see my best friend in person after not seeing each other in person for a year and a half. Once school started, we would play basketball after school and be on call for hours while we did homework together as we for the majority had the same classes. One day in class, he began to feel a bad migraine and he ended up going home. It didn’t seem too big to me and I texted him once I got home and he didn’t respond. I began to worry and as days passed I still had no response. I knew something was wrong but allowed him to have space though I get a call from a friend that was at a hospital and he tells me with a shaky voice, he passed. I cried a lot and to this day, I’m still in much pain and it’s something I still can’t get over. Questions had started to circulate for me and I started to think if I had any regrets but his death is what I used as a motivation. His death happened right before basketball season so I wrote his name on my shoes and continued to maintain a 4.3 GPA that both him and I had to really make him proud.

As a first generation college student soon to be, I want to be able to make my family proud and go on to build generational wealth. With that being said, I would like to go into marketing or business administration as I have aspirations of one day owning my own company. I understand how hard it can be but I’ve already overcame different challenges in my life. They allowed me to stay positive and throughout my adversities I always asked myself what my why is and it was my family and a lost friend of mine. I made sure that I didn’t disappoint them and in order to do that I had to push through and keep fighting. The biggest challenge I overcame was the loss of my best friend. The person I would talk to every day was just gone in a heartbeat and I couldn’t believe it. When I got the call that he passed I wondered if we left on a good note and I wondered if I spent my time went well with him. Once a week passed by though I realized that I showed as much love and appreciation for him and I should have nothing to regret. I was so stuck in the moment that knowing I wouldn’t see him again ever, was his time with me cherished enough. This by far changed me a lot and I now cherish people way more then before. I understand that everyone will leave soon and it’s a matter of using our time wisely and effectively. This challenge also led to me thinking about not being in this world anymore and I overcame the deep depression I had that always left me unmotivated. I was already disciplined though but the thought of not being here is what was really killing me. But after his death I started to take more time to myself and I also later realized that he is my why. I push through everyday on days I’m not feeling up to it and know that I’m doing it for him and for my family. My family also were having a tough situation at times too and I learned that communication is key when it comes to solving problems. I am a very quiet person so this was a major adjustment I had to make and I also had a hard time controlling my emotions that prevented me from listening to other people. I learned through these adversities that you can and will able to get through it and take each step one at a time and you will slowly reach your goal or the person you strive to be. Knowing your why is major to have too because having a purpose and a constant motivator is what can keep you on focus and allow you to maintain discipline.

My best friend in my junior year died and that was the worst thing that happened to me. I was depressed and that was something I always struggled with in high school. The death had embellished that pain that was always with me and as a result I had always been more quiet. I think about him everyday and hurts knowing that I can’t call him whenever just to talk for hours about the most random stuff. Eventually, I’m able to cope with this through basketball and soccer but also continuing in my progression has a great academic student. This tragic event happened in November 2021. It still feels fairly recent and specifically he passed away on the 14th of November. His one year anniversary had passed and it was one of the hardest days of my life. I was crying so hard when I visited his grave to the point my eyes were swollen and throwing up blood. It felt very unhealthy to do but I was internalizing so much pain that it came out all at once. I thought about the good times for the first hour that I was at his grave but once I was just standing there, it began to keep hurting even more and that hurt me deeply to the point that I got a migraine because I couldn’t control how much I cried. Imagine that person you are with everyday, talking with on the phone everyday, and that person that always has your back no matter is just gone. That day he died I still remember all the small details, I even remember when I received the call from another friend saying he passed at 2:10 and the call being from 4:43-4:44. I remember I was watching a warriors game and a player by the name of Johnathan Kuminga had a great defensive possession against LaMelo Ball. I went from the living room to my room when I was getting the call and after the call I went back to the living room and I just started crying in my father’s hands. That day was very traumatic and a day I think about everyday. I was getting to the point where I felt I didn’t belong anymore. I thought it was the end of the world but during his funeral I remember coming to a realization that I won’t give up in anything I do and that he would want me to continue being strong. I remember the death happening the first semester of my junior year and I said to myself that I may not be where I want to be but a 4.17 GPA is satisfactory. I made an effort to get the highest GPA I could possibly get and I got close to that getting a 4.33 GPA. I played basketball even harder and would sometimes wake up at 5 am to play and workout. Same thing for soccer and the work ethic that was already crazier got even crazier and I’m able to use his death as a fuel or a motivation to become an even better person each and every single day.

College is very important for me because I want to be able to gain experience and knowledge while I’m young to build generational wealth. Both of my parents were immigrants from Eritrea and Ethiopia so they made sure that their future generations were able to have a better life than them. They sacrificed so much in order for me to now have a greater opportunity to make more money and build a even better foundation for the future. College sets me up for this and I want to be able to live comfortably and repay my parents back for all the hard work that they feel may not be noticed. I want to be able to buy them a house, retire them, and relieve all the stress they have that involves money.When I have my own family, I don’t want them to worry about anything either and I want to be able to travel and spend as much money as I want with no worries. This scholarship can help with my necessities and as a very minimal person this would be a lot for me and very much be worth it. My money habits are greatly focused on and I hone in on keeping it stable. This money though will allow me to buy textbooks in college, allow me to buy food that I can cook and last me up to 1 week. I want to be able to focus on my studies mainly so the money factor being handled for me would be huge because my parents are trying the best that they can. They have tried to their best capability and they have been telling me from when I wanted a job to only focus on school. I have made an effort to work but my parents always said to just focus on my studies because they didn’t want anything to hold me back and they are worried I won’t succeed in college because of the money barrier created. They think I will feel pressured and give up everything eventually. That’s why if I was able to get this scholarship, I can also relieve my parents stress. In conclusion, this scholarship will help in my journey throughout college. As a very minimal person I will be able to use this money effectively and distribute it evenly whether it’s entertainment but most of all for my necessities. I would love to go to college to make myself feel that my work ethic has a purpose and I want to be able to make my parents proud and with this scholarship, allow for them to not worry about money.