Growing up, football was always my favorite sport. I think everything about it is just perfect. The strategy, teamwork, and excitement in the game of football is truly awe inspiring. Despite my love for the game, I never really had the chance to play on any organized team past my flag football days. I have always been on the skinnier side which many wouldn’t consider to be a suitable build for such a physical sport. So every fall, I was the odd man out in a group of friends that all played football for our school. Every year I was conflicted with the choice of joining the team because deep down I really wanted to, but I just didn’t know if I could physically. It took me until senior year until I realized that enough was enough. My senior year of high school would be my last opportunity to ever play organized football for the rest of my life. I knew that if I didn’t take that chance, then I would regret it for the rest of my life. So after all of those years of contemplation, I finally did it… I joined the football team. It took a little bit of getting used to, but really it was just like any other sport. I just tried my best and did what was asked of me. Despite essentially being a rookie, I would say that I had a quite successful year. I found my way into the starting lineup on defense as a corner back due to my speed, and I took a good share of snaps at receiver on the other side of the ball. With all of that in mind, what I will remember most from my time playing football was not the experience I had on the field, but the lessons I learned off the field. What made football different from all of the other sports that I have played was that it was more than just winning and losing games. It was a journey that shaped me and left me with many important life lessons. Attending a Catholic school, our coach made it clear that our religion would be at the center of all that we did. We attended mass before every game, prayed before and after games, and were constantly given reminders of what our true purpose in life was. It really helped me grow in my faith and find an appreciation in my spiritual journey that I did not know I had. Another thing that I took from football was the brotherhood that was present in the locker room, on the field, and even in school. Everyone on that team had each other's backs and would give all of their effort for the person next to them. This was the first time I have experienced such a bond and it was a great feeling knowing that I was a part of something much greater than just myself. It opened my eyes to how much you can accomplish with teamwork and how essential it is in life. I am a firm believer that football is the greatest sport ever created, but now I understand why I love it so much. It goes much deeper than who can make the craziest catches, or who can hit the hardest. It is a game of teamwork, brotherhood, and coming together as one to accomplish a common goal. I hope to take these lessons I have learned to use teamwork in my future to better myself and those around me.

For over two decades, “LeBron James” has been a household name across the entire country. Aside from being arguably the best basketball player to ever lace up, he has made a name for himself for his work off-the-court as well. James’ influence goes far beyond the game of basketball and his legacy has been cemented for generations to come. And despite recognizing his name for the majority of my life, it wasn’t until 2016 when I took my time to watch him. Since then, I have been inspired by his game and the steps he has taken throughout his career to get to the point he is at today. My first time watching LeBron James in action was in the 2016 NBA Finals in a matchup against the Golden State Warriors. The stakes were extremely high for LeBron in this seven-game series with a troubled past with his team, the Cleveland Cavaliers. Just six years prior to this matchup, LeBron made the controversial decision to leave his hometown team in Cleveland for the Miami Heat where he would go on to win two Championships. James returned to the Cavaliers in 2014 with the promise to bring his former team to glory, and in 2016, he did just that. The Warriors quickly jumped out to a 3-1 lead. Unfortunately for Warriors fans, those three wins would be their last in that series as LeBron went on to lead the Cavs to a 4-3 win. This marked the first 3-1 comeback in Finals history, but more importantly, the first NBA Championship for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Since the 2016 Finals comeback, Lebron James has been one of my favorite NBA players. He is a once-in-a-generation talent and is the definition of a jack of all trades. From offense to defense, he can do it all. This brings up the question: is he the greatest to ever pick up a basketball? This is a question that I don’t entirely know how to answer. The usual second candidate in this debate is Michael Jordan. If you take LeBron at his peak and matched him against Jordan at his peak, I would have to give it to Michael Jordan. But the one problem with that is that LeBron has been at his peak for just about his entire career. Just recently, James celebrated his 40th birthday. And while most basketball players would have ridden off into the sunset at this point, LeBron is still dominating the league night in and night out. In fact, you would have to look back to when he was 30 to find the last time he scored less than 10 points in a game. Another testament to his longevity is when he passed Kareem Abdul-Jabber as the NBA All-Time Leading Scorer just last year. It is genuinely unbelievable. He stepped into the NBA as an 18-year-old kid fresh out of high school, and he seemingly has not aged since. I wasn’t even born until four years after he was drafted and I am soon graduating high school. LeBron has been playing at an MVP caliber the entire time! The difficulty with asking “who is the greatest basketball player ever?” is the question itself. While Jordan may have been the BETTER player, there is a difference between best and greatest. Greatness is defined by many characteristics which both players have embodied in different ways. However, if LeBron James continues to play basketball at the level he has played at for over twenty years, there may not be any denial in the answer to the age-old debate.

Since I was a kid, I knew that college was meant for me. I have always excelled in school, and I had a lot of interest in many different topics. However, there was one subject that stood out among the rest: mathematics. On about every grade level, math has had a special place in my heart. Perhaps what I like most about math is that there is almost always a right or wrong answer for every question. There is a definite solution and a correct path to find that answer. No half right answers, no “close enough”, it is either correct or incorrect. In my eyes, this makes it much more simple to learn and understand, and it is extremely rewarding when you find the correct answer to a problem. My love for math increased when I found ways that it can be integrated in the real world through physics. I took my first physics class last year, in my junior year of high school. It opened my eyes to a plethora of opportunities to advance my math skills into a college education and, ultimately, a career path. Physics acts as a bridge between the imaginary world of math with endless possibilities and the limited reality of everyday life. It is crazy to think that just about anything that happens in the real world can be calculated and predicted with mathematics. And that is what I love about math. There are no limits (except in calculus). The capabilities of math are unbounded. You truly can do anything with it. It may not be for everyone and that is completely understandable. There are a lot of concepts that, I will admit, take me some time to grasp. But with a little bit of dedication and passion, mathematics can open a door of infinite opportunities.

Christopher Nolan, regarded as one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, has a plethora of boundary-breaking movies that have broken the mold and influenced a new generation in the film industry. Among Nolan’s selection of top-of-the-line films, one that stood out to me is the 2014 sci-fi thriller Interstellar. Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar follows Joseph Cooper on his journey through outer space on a search for a new home planet for the human race. In this world, planet Earth has fallen victim to dust storms causing crops to go extinct. It will not be long until crops are not the only thing going extinct. On Cooper’s hunt, he is battling with the effects of time dilation. This is a component of Einstein's Theory of Relativity that causes time to pass at different speeds depending on how fast an object is moving, or how close it is to a large gravitational field. Cooper has to find a way to save the human race before it goes extinct, but he has to be careful or else time dilation will make this goal much more difficult to reach. I was first introduced to this movie while I was learning about Relativity in physics class. I was amazed about how time, what I thought to be a basic concept that I was very familiar with, was far more complex than I had thought. To explain it best, time will “move” slower for a person or object under a very powerful gravitational field or a person moving at speeds comparable to the speed of light. Recognizing my fascination with this topic, my classmate recommended Interstellar to me. Cooper encounters time dilation while he is within close range of a black hole. Within a few hours of close contact with this great source of gravity, nearly 30 years pass for the people back on Earth. This makes for a very emotional scene in which Cooper watches videos sent from his family, realizing that he missed out on watching his children grow up. This movie helped me further understand the effects of time dilation. It is crazy to think that a concept that we have known for so long, such as time, is much more multifaceted than we had thought. It introduces the question of how much more we don’t know about our world. There are some questions that we will never have an answer to and it really puts into perspective how small we are in this vast universe. Some people may go through their entire life not knowing anything about the Theory of Relativity and that is completely fine because it doesn’t have much of an effect on day to day life. But I do believe there is a benefit to understanding the world we live in. I would definitely recommend watching Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar for anyone that hasn’t yet. It truly is a timeless masterpiece that opens the audience's eyes to how little we know about our universe. From beginning to end, it is captivating, leaving viewers anxious for what will happen next. This movie was just another reminder to me that the more you think you know about the world, the more you realize that you know nothing at all.

My name is Timothy O’Connor. I am 17 years old making me the oldest of five (three brothers and one sister). All together I live in a house of seven. Living in such a big family can be a struggle at times, but I have learned many valuable lessons of sharing and teamwork along the way. I wouldn’t change a thing about it if I could because I realize the value of a big family and it's an opportunity that few people have these days. Since I was born, I have been raised in the Catholic faith. I attend mass every Sunday and I have been in a Catholic school since preschool. Currently, I am attending Cabrini High School in Allen Park, Michigan. Despite never attending a public school, I do believe that there is a difference between public and private teaching. For one, there are much fewer students attending my school than other schools in the area. This makes for a better ratio of students and teachers, offering a more personalized education. Also, being surrounded by peers who are growing in the same religion as me helps to keep my focus on my journey of faith. I have participated in several sports throughout my high school years including basketball, baseball, soccer, track and field, and football. There are so many benefits to high school sports that go far beyond physical activity. All of the sports I have participated in are team sports so I have had the opportunity to work as a team with people that I didn’t know very much. I have built many relationships through sports and it helped me to adjust into a new environment after middle school. It wasn’t until my junior year when I even had an idea of what I wanted to do after high school. I was enrolled in a physics class which I really was not looking forward to taking. I had no prior knowledge or interest in the topic and I had heard before that it was one of the most difficult classes that was offered at the school. At one point I wanted to drop out, but I was unable to as there would be scheduling issues. There were only 5 students in the class and it turned out to be my favorite course I have ever taken. It also helped me to decide on pursuing a career in mechanical engineering. Since then I have done a lot of work to prepare for college. I am exhilarated to advance my education with the eventual goal of finding a job to provide for myself and potentially a family. Time has flown by and it is crazy to think that I will be starting college later this year, but I am confident that I will be prepared for it. The best thing I can do is enjoy my last few months of high school and be grateful for the opportunities I have been given along the way.