I first began to hear God’s word as a young girl growing up surrounded by a loving church family, but it wasn’t until one year at my church’s summer camp that I finally began to develop an understanding of what it meant to truly see God in everything around you. I will never forget the day I sat in my camp chair, watching the rustling leaves overhead. I thought of how God formed each cell of those leaves and felt at peace, my heart swelling as the Lord revealed to me that He created all of this… and then He created me. When I got home from camp, I made the decision to be baptized. This moment has served as a reminder of why I gave my life to Him, as well as where I first recognized what we’re worth to Him. Ever since, I've deeply treasured the words of Psalm 139 in my heart; it tells us that the Lord is always watching over us and He carefully wove us together in the womb, putting so much care into the intricate details that make us… us! He created all of the gorgeous nature around us that I love so much, yet He loves us more. He loves us so much that He sent His one and only Son to die on the cross to save us all from our sins, even though we don’t deserve this. Jesus Christ has always been there in my life, but it took me being intentional to truly see just how near He is to us always. My relationship with Jesus is not something that I take lightly. After working through reflection and conviction, I’ve gained an understanding of how vital it is to set aside time to be still and listen for the Lord’s guidance. I’ve also learned that this time is not to check a box but it serves as an intentional dedication of the heart and of your time that allows you to mature in your relationship with God through inviting Him in. The more I get to know Jesus Christ, the more I desire to serve Him, and I look forward to serving Him for the rest of my life in various ways. I’ve chosen the educational path that I did because I believe God calls his workers to the medical field in order to be a light to those who truly need it most. I aspire to be an audiologist some day and help families through a child’s diagnosis and treatment. I plan to learn American Sign Language to better communicate with these families, but also to reach a community the good news often doesn’t reach. The deaf and hard-of-hearing communities are often overlooked in our world today, and according to the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, more than 27 million find churches “partially or completely closed to them”. This is an area that we must work on today that I feel a strong calling to advocate for change in, and though I do not currently plan to become an ASL translator, I hope to leave an impact on their community and spread the word of the Lord to as many people as I can through my future occupation. I hope to follow wherever the Lord calls me, shining His light for the rest of my life, doing what I can to attach actions to my faith so that I can produce fruits that will encourage others to follow Christ.

As a youth soccer referee, I have encountered all types of situations—good, bad, and everything in between! My favorite memory is from a travel soccer tournament where I was the assistant referee for an under 12’s final game. The teams were fairly equal in skill, and it came down to a penalty kick (PK) shootout to determine who would win the gold. I used to play soccer and still remember what I felt during my first shootout: fear, excitement, and anticipation. It was amazing to see the whole thing from a referee’s perspective this time. Even through the PK shootout they were neck and neck, until one of the goalkeepers misjudged and the other team scored a goal. The young goalkeeper instantly began to cry as she stepped out of the goal. I asked her if she was hurt or upset to ensure she was uninjured, and the other goalkeeper heard me ask this and turned around. She hugged her opponent, complimenting her before stepping into the net to take the next shot. The first girl’s team wound up losing the match, but afterwards I got to watch her team rally around her, staying in high spirits despite their loss. I love this moment because it shows what sports—specifically youth sports—should be like. Competition is good, but at the end of the day, kids should be there to have fun and to learn how to play the sport. To see such a pure display of sportsmanship made my heart swell, as it’s something you don’t see all the time. I was honored to be part of a match that ended on such an uplifting note for both teams, win or lose. Being a referee has taught me many valuable skills to apply on and off the field. As a soccer player, I learned discipline, but being a referee requires a new kind of discipline. The outcome of the entire game rests on your shoulders, and every call you make (or don’t make) will impact how the rest of the game plays out. Through all of the protests and celebrations you must keep your mind focused solely on the game in front of you. Disciplining your mind and keeping your gaze sharply on your task is vital—not only in refereeing, but in life. Refereeing has taught me to learn from my mistakes without letting them hinder my performance. A bad call or a bad score on a test doesn’t define who I am as a referee or as a student; it proves that I’m trying and learning. It’s also taught me a lot about leadership and being a part of a team. A referee team that doesn’t work together isn’t able to do their job well, and this applies to life situations, too. Refereeing has taught me how to work with everyone, from friends to strangers, and this is something I feel is very valuable as I move forward into college, and later, the medical field. During college, I plan to continue refereeing to maintain my involvement in the sport of soccer and also to continue learning. I plan to continue working youth soccer games to be both a mentor and leader on the field, teaching players as I go. I also hope to apply the knowledge I’ve gained as a referee to volunteer coaching later in life to further give back to the sport I loved so much as a child. No matter where I go in life, the lessons I’ve learned as a referee will always follow, and I’m so grateful that I found this job.

When I think of leaders, I think of someone who is driven and dedicated to a specific goal that will bring about change, and science needs so many leaders. Without leaders, science can't advance, and furthermore, we as a society need science. From medicine to mechanics, science is engraved in every part of our lives, all because of the trailblazing, gifted leaders that invented it all. I believe that strong leaders in science will continue to bring about great change that will affect our future lives, one discovery at a time. As an aspiring audiologist, I think of cochlear implants and hearing aids; they have blessed the lives of so many people since they were invented. When you look at the impact of science on the world around us, the first thing you see is that it changes lives! Children who once were deaf can hear their mother say 'I love you' and veterans can hear their grandbabies’ first words. Science is more than lab coats and research, and the leaders who create incredible things like hearing devices understand this. They saw a problem, took action, and now have improved the lives of millions. Beyond science, good leaders impact lives everywhere they go. Through the years I've worked both as a leader and under various leaders in many volunteer settings, which allows me to understand the impact that having a strong, driven leader can have. I've had the opportunity to volunteer as a counselor at Camp Concern—a Christian youth summer camp. The camp director is the epitome of a great leader, leading the staff with grace and empathy, while also holding each of us to a high standard that makes everyone want to put forth their best effort daily. His strong leadership inspires me to be the best leader I can be inside and outside of camp. Seeing how leaders have affected my life provides me with a deep understanding for just how vital great leaders are to our world. Without them, we don't have anyone to push us to be our best, nor do we have anyone to craft change; we also lose our opportunity for advancement in vital fields like medicine. Our future depends on leaders honing their skills and grabbing the reins to lead the charge towards greater change, as they're the ones that will mark the path we as a society will follow into our future.

I’m Samantha Fields, a current high school senior who will be attending college for a bachelor's degree in Communication Science and Disorders with a goal of attending graduate school to become an audiologist. In college, I also plan to take American Sign Language classes to learn the language that many of my future patients rely on for communication today. Throughout my high school career, I’ve dedicated myself to volunteering my time to better the community around me. I worked as the volunteer assistant director and stage manager of my district’s middle school musical my senior year, helped run National Honor Society fundraisers to raise money for Make-A-Wish, and most important to me, helped others through my church youth group and church summer camp. Starting in 2024, I began dedicating a week of my summer to volunteer at Camp Concern, an overnight Christian summer camp. Many times while counseling 11-13 year-olds, there are moments where bullying could occur, but it is my job to ensure that it doesn’t happen. We don’t allow phones at the camp, creating a cyberbullying-free environment right off the bat! I think it’s a great thing to have the campers unplug, have fun together, and enjoy the nature around them. When I’m counseling, I always keep close tabs on the campers to ensure that everyone is being kind and welcoming to one another, and if disagreements arise or mean things are said, I step in and try to stop the hurtful words or actions as soon as possible to keep the campground a bullying-free safe space for everyone. Beyond Camp Concern, I also act as a mentor in my church’s youth group, building friendships with my fellow peers. As an older role model in the group, I try to keep open ears to listen for conflicts where I could help work through friendship differences to prevent bullying from occurring. I also always try to make myself available to talk because sometimes all someone needs is a safe person close to their age to listen. When I was younger, I always appreciated the older girls who made themselves both a resource and safe person, and now I have the chance to pay it forward, being that person for the younger people in my youth group today. As I enter college, I will continue looking out for and being a safe space for my peers. As I began looking into colleges about a year ago, I was shell-shocked by the cost! A bachelor’s degree is already expensive, but add graduate school, and prices go through the roof! After eight years of schooling to pursue my dream of becoming an audiologist, I will be facing about $250,000 in tuition and fees alone. This number will quickly become a burden for me as a high-achieving student that aims to pursue things beyond the classroom—such as community service clubs, internships, volunteer opportunities, job shadowing, and working in audiology research labs; all these activities will help me become the best audiologist I can be. Without financial assistance or entering into overwhelming debt, I would have to choose between working or participating in these career-enriching activities. My goal is to graduate with as little debt as possible so that I can start my career as an audiologist focused on my patients rather than worrying about a student loan payment. Minimizing my debt begins now as I apply to scholarships in the hopes of removing some of the future financial burden from my shoulders. Thank you for your consideration! I will work very hard to put any resources awarded to good use.

Cancer has been a bitter reality faced by my family in recent years, and it has forever impacted my life. Our first experience with it was my uncle who unfortunately passed away in 2018. This was soon followed by my grandma's diagnosis in 2019, and then my mom's diagnosis during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Thankfully, they both are in recovery now—cancer free—but these diagnoses had a heavy impact on me. Throughout the years after their diagnoses, I struggled with both general and health-related anxiety that took me a lot of time to work through. During my mom and grandma's treatment and healing, I was able to push through the hard circumstances and continue to excel in my schooling and extracurriculars, but about a year after my mom's cancer treatment, things began to take a turn for the worse with my mental health. I found myself weighed down by the painful truths of what I'd gone through, making friendships and many once-easy everyday things feel difficult. I was very anxious and didn't understand the new, scary emotions I was feeling, as I was only around the age of thirteen at the time and hadn't struggled with my mental health prior to their cancer diagnoses. Through this time, I found myself turning to a new hobby—writing. Though my stories were very amateur at the time, they meant the world to me back then and still do today. Writing helped me to voice the anxieties in my head in a way that seemed easy to me, helping me to begin working through some of my worries. Soon after I started writing, I also began speaking with a therapist, who helped me greatly. With professional intervention and time, I have won my battle against my mental health struggles and am proud of my family for what we have overcome in the wake of the cancer diagnoses and treatments we went through. Moreover, I am proud of myself for what I still accomplished while working through my anxiety. Despite the hard times I experienced, I remained dedicated to my studies and maintained straight A's. I also remained in my sport and worked hard to continue to grow as a soccer goalkeeper. I'm forever grateful that even through one of the worst times of my life, I remained grounded in my values of education, drive, and dedication. When it would've been far easier to just give up, I continued to work hard, knowing that one day it would pay off and my future self would thank me. Though cancer took much from me and my family, it also provided me with things I'll always be grateful for—my writing, closer relationships with friends and family, and better coping skills that still help me to this day. My hobby of writing has grown into a passion, and I have now written more than five complete, unpublished novels over the years. I also feel that I'm forever closer with my family members, having gained a newfound appreciation for holding your loved ones close while you can, because health is a privilege too many take for granted. Looking back at my experiences with cancer, I can now view the bad times as a rocky mountain I've finally conquered and I now turn toward my future, where I carry the lessons I've learned with me, striking out on an even better path for myself moving forward.