"Out Of The Woods" (Taylor's Version) is a song that perfectly describes my feelings the last couple of months. The idiom that the song is titled after is defined as escaping difficulties or troubles. Meaning, if you are "out of the woods" you are safe. Taylor takes this phrase to a deeper meaning, as in the lyrics she is asking "Are we out of the woods yet?" This creates a feeling of anxiety to her song; a certain uncertainty about the future. As a recent high school graduate I have had my fair share of these moments in the recent months. Everything I am used to in my daily life will be gone in just a matter of months. I am from Mesa, Arizona, but I am committed to attending Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. Come August, I will be over 600 miles away from my family- my loving parents and three siblings who have been there for me each day of my life. Moving states will not only separate me from my family, but also my friendships as many of my dear friends are also starting the next step in their life and are moving on too. Lastly, I will also have to learn how to "adult" and live on my own. As I wait for these major changes to occur I can not help feel these anxieties of "are we out of the woods yet?" While many of my concerns for the future are related to leaving my loved ones behind, another is the financial aspect of attending college. Paying for tuition, room and board, books, food, and the other various expenses I will be faced with is a burden constantly on my mind. That is why I am applying to as many scholarships as I can in hopes of easing this worry by securing additional finance to pay for my expenses. These anxious feelings that I have may cause me at times to panic, but I have been able to learn various strategies that have been able to help calm in the event of strong emotions. One that has helped me greatly is music. It calms my mind and helps me to focus on something other than my anxiety. "Out Of The Woods" (Taylor's Version) has been a song that has been able to help me navigate these feelings and lead me to feel my confident in my future endeavors. Powerful lines such as "We were built to fall apart and fall back together" and "But the monsters turned out to be just trees" help me to realize that my feelings of worry are normal, and that they won't prevent me from accomplishing my dreams. As I prepare to move in the fall, I feel confident in myself because I know that I will be able to grow as I experience these new things away from my home. I am grateful to apply to this scholarship, as Taylor Swift's music has been able to help me so much throughout my life. Her music has done more for me than just ease my fears about my future, but has been able to smile and create good memories surrounded by friends and family as we sing along.

My name is Breanna Turley and I am about to graduate as number three of over 700 students in my graduation class at Mesa High. Throughout my life I have been dedicated to various extracurriculars while striving to maintain good grades in my challenging Honors and AP level courses. In this essay I will describe my future study and career plans, and explain why obtaining financial aid is crucial for me, because I would like to graduate debt free. This coming fall I will be attending Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. This means I will be moving away from my home in Mesa, Arizona; a place I have lived in my entire life. Due to this move, I will be faced with room and board costs on top of tuition and other various expenses college students have. This scholarship would be beneficial in assisting me as I cover those costs. At BYU, I will be studying Dietetics and Nutrition, with the hope that once I graduate with a Master’s degree I will become a Registered Dietitian. Due to my desires to achieve a higher degree, that means I will be in school for longer and therefore I will be in need of more financial assistance. This is yet another way I would be helped through winning this scholarship, and another way I am grateful for the opportunity that I have to apply. I have selected this career path years ago when my passion for dietetics first began. I became fascinated with nutrition as I participated in high school athletics. During the competitive high school season for swim, I endeavored to eat healthy. Meaning, I cut out sugar and various unhealthy foods from my diet completely- and focused on nutritional food that would help prepare my body for what I needed it to do. Due to my dedication, I experienced first hand the impact of nutrition as I excelled in high school sports. As well, each time I was able to give nutritional advice to one of my teammates, I jumped at the opportunity. I am ecstatic to enter this field because I find true joy in nutrition and helping people better themselves. Another experience that helped to grow my fascination for nutrition was volunteering for the nonprofit organization Feed My Starving Children, also known as FMSC. Each time you volunteer there the staff shows videos of the malnourished children you are helping save through packing those meals. As I helped make them, I pondered on the amazement of the organization. How they were able to create a recipe for these meals that would properly nourish those starving children. It is truly miraculous what food is able to do, and I can not wait to further my knowledge while in school at BYU. All in all, I am ready for the financial and educational challenges that await as I prepare to pursue a higher degree. I know that the dedication and hard working attitude I had in high school will help me as I seek scholarship opportunities, such as this, to help me to pay for my education that will lead me to my dream job.

May 19, 2023 flipped my world upside down. I received the shocking news that my beloved high school swim coach, Mike Haney, had unexpectedly passed away the night before. I was shocked as there was no warning signs, as he has just turned 54 and seemed to be in the peak of health. Why his death created so much heartache was because of how influential a figure Haney was in my life. Not only was he my swim coach, who cared about me in and out of the pool, he was my mentor, and lastly my friend. An adult I could trust, count on, inspire me, and lastly someone who I could joke with, as Haney was known for his sense of humor. His passing happened at the end of my junior year, meaning Haney was not going to be there my senior year of swim. My heart broke as I knew no coach could ever fill his shoes. I contemplated not participating, but quickly erased that thought from my head, as I knew that was the last thing Haney would want. The time he spent on earth, he cultivated a legacy of hard work and determination, and straying from what he taught me by giving up is something I could never do. I decided then that I would carry on with Haney's legacy. That although he was not here physically, I could still make him proud. I dedicated my final high school swim season to him. Naturally, that season I faced many challenges that I felt would not have occurred if Haney was still here. The coaches were inexperienced, meaning it was hard to improve my skills when my coaches could not offer me any advice or technical adjustments. This lead to my decision to attend two practices. Obviously, I would still go to my high school practices every day after school, but in addition to that I swam every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings at 5 A.M. with my swim club. This busy schedule took some time to adjust to, but at the end of the season I was able to reap the benefits of attending practices that would help me to improve. Another challenge I faced was with the members of the team. Haney ensured that each person felt valued and loved; he helped our swim team to feel like a family. However, there was a new freshman that did not want to join our "swim family." He was unkind and disrespectful to the girls on our team, and unfortunately our coaches did not do anything about it. Action was only taken when a couple other girls and I had to report him to our athletic director for the things he had done. Haney never would have allowed the situation to progress to that. However, I chose to focus on what I could control- my attitude and how I treated people. I sought to be a friend to everyone, like how Haney would have wanted, and it helped us to retain our "family-like" atmosphere. All in all, despite Haney's passing being one of the worst things I have experienced, it has helped me to grow greatly. The hardworking and determined attitude he taught me is something that I will continue to have for the rest of my life. Haney also taught me how to set goals and accomplish them, so using that I will graduate from Brigham Young University. I hope to earn a degree in Dietetics and Nutrition and become employed as a dietitian.

Ever since I was a little girl I knew I wanted to attend college and to receive a higher education. My grandpa and my mom were both teachers and were strong motivators about how important education is. They, as well as my father and other family members, have always encouraged me to give my academics my all, making my household a place where "straight A's" were an expectation. That expectation has led me to grow into a hardworking student that strives to excel. Being surrounded by educated role models who have gone on to have successful careers, because of their post high school education, has only helped my desire to graduate from a university to grow. As well, my mom often tells me and my siblings, something along the lines of: the more education you have the better prepared you are for a career after earning a degree. This lead me to my decision to earn not only a Bachelor's degree, but to attend additional schooling and to receive a Master's degree in my chosen major, which is Dietetics and Nutrition. I know that due to this higher education, I will be able to be more successful in my future career as a dietitian, because "knowledge is power." Additionally, something that has inspired me to seek a higher education was time I spent tutoring in the library at my school. I enjoyed helping my peers with homework problems and giving out study tips. However, at times, there were some students I could not help due to my lack of knowledge on that subject. This inspired me to want to grow my knowledge, as I would be able to help more people. The field of science that Dietetics and Nutrition, my aforementioned major, falls under is Life Sciences, because of how food and one's health is a part of daily life. I am ecstatic to attend Brigham Young University this upcoming fall to join their Dietetics and Nutrition program. Food has always been a strong interest of mine as I was a varsity athlete all four years of high school. During the competitive season I would be strict with myself on what I could and could not eat- which lead me to become a successful athlete. As I was able to have first hand experience on how important the food that you put into your body is, inspired me to choose this as what I want to study after high school. Being able to attend classes at BYU I will be able to receive more complex information and to grow my knowledge greatly. Since this has been a passion of mine for the past couple of years, I can not wait to be able to learn more about this topic at the university level.

My name is Breanna Turley and I am currently in my senior year of high school at Mesa High. My love for sports began at a young age, as I participated in numerous sports programs, however at age 11 I joined my first swim team and quickly fell in love with the sport. I participated on recreational swim teams, club teams, and was a four year varsity swimmer at Mesa High. When it was not high school swim season I still participated in club swim, but also was on the tennis team at my school. While I am not as passionate about tennis as swim, I still dedicated myself to it and was on junior varsity for my first three years, and this past tennis season I improved greatly and finished the season as the fourth ranked varsity player on my team. Being a student athlete has not only taught me valuable skills that has helped shape me into a hardworking and determined person, but lead me to my career interest and what I plan to study at Brigham Young University, which is the school I will be attending this fall. I will be majoring in Dietetics and Nutrition with hopes to be employed as a dietitian following graduation. I have a special story to share that lead me to select this as my future career. Sophomore year of my high school swim season I created a challenge for myself that I hoped would lead me to drop time in my events. I decided that I would not eat a single gram of processed sugar. Meaning, natural sugars found in fruit and agave were safe to eat, as they are demeaned healthier, but processed sugars found in cookies, ice cream, and even some breads were kicked out of my diet. I was meticulous when it came to what I ate that season, carefully checking each label and steering away from fast food. My diet began at the end of July, when we began preseason practice, and lasted to the first weekend of November. Being on such a strict diet for over three months, especially when surrounded by my other teammates who did not share the same desire as me to eat healthy, was hard, and at times felt impossible. However, I persevered and the benefits I reaped at the end of that season was worth all the struggles. I was able to earn a personal best time in all my events, and swam on the state team. Since the year before I saw a lot of success, I knew that for my junior and senior years of high school swim I wanted to follow the same diet. Each season I was faced with more and more success. The last being finishing in 13th place in my main event, the 100 breaststroke, in the AIA D1 State Championships. As it become known to the members of my team about my no sugar diet, I become an inspiration to my team, a guide on what to eat- healthier substitutes for foods, and a source of pride for my coaches. Not only did the joy I felt from the impact of eating healthy influence my career choice, but the excitement I felt each time I was able to help someone with their eating choices. Lastly, I am grateful for the opportunity to apply for this scholarship, but I also am thankful for all that swim has done for me. Sports helped me to grow, and I hope I will be able to help others to grow in my future career.

Hello, my name is Breanna Turley and I am a senior at Mesa High School. I choose to lead an active life, I am always out playing tennis, swimming, going for a quick walk, etc. Alongside being physically active, I am passionate about eating healthy and fueling my body with good food to help me to perform at my best in athletics. My love for nutrition has lead me to select Dietetics as my major, as I will be attending college this upcoming fall. This scholarship would be extremely beneficial towards paying for my tuition and other expenses as I will have to move away from my home in Mesa, Arizona. I have participated in various swim clubs and teams since I was about 10, meaning swim has been a passion of mine for almost half of my life. My high school swim coach, Mike Haney, was my mentor when it came to improving myself in not only swimming, but in life. He taught me hard work gets results. I am often complimented on my dedication and hard-working attitude, and those life skills were taught to me through Coach Haney. One way I demonstrated my commitment to swim is each high school swim season I cut all processed sugars out of my diet. I went from the end of July to the beginning of November without a gram of it. This meant I had to double check the labels of everything I put in my body, and often times I was unable to eat the food I was craving. However, I know that my choice to eat this way lead me to accomplish great things in my sport. Most recently, I placed 27th in the 200 Individual Medley and 13th in the 100 Breaststroke in the 2023 AIA D1 State Swim Championships. By choosing to sacrifice what I could eat, I was able to excel in my swimming. As well, my experiences with cutting out sugar taught me valuable life skills, such as, I can accomplish anything I put my mind to and further emphasizes Coach Haney's saying- "Hard work gets results." Though I have now closed the competitive swim chapter of my life, I still go to the pool to continue my active lifestyle. I can not forget to mention the countless friendships participating in swim has brought me. The people I have met through this sport have become my dearest friends, and have helped me to grow socially through their actions of kindness and love. As well, the support and encouragement that has been shown to me by friends and family members has lead me to become a more supportive and enthusiastic person, because of their examples. All in all, I am thankful for the opportunity to apply for this scholarship and all of the useful skills participating in sports has taught me. If I were to win this money, it will go toward paying for my tuition at Brigham Young University. I have chosen to attend that university due to their wonderful and advanced Dietetics and Nutrition program, and the positive learning environment BYU strives to create for their students. I hope to graduate with a Master's degree, and to later become employed as a Pediatric Dietitian. However, any job relating to nutrition would be a dream come true for me.

In the comfort of a beloved teacher's classroom, my swim coach Mike Haney, I first listened to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, his favorite band. Among the rock songs we enjoyed was "Can't Stop," and the final lyrics have always stood out to me, "...Can't stop the spirit when they need you. This life is more than just a read-through." Starting my freshman year off with the world partially shut down due to the coronavirus, school became tedious, boring, and at times caused me to lack motivation. I struggled to find joy when attending school, however through Mr. Haney I was able to find excitement in learning and pride in knowledge. Through positive environments created by excellent teachers, my love for school and determination for good grades was reignited. Whether it was Kahoots that helped make learning fun or listening to 90s rock as background music while working; my motivation for learning grew as I had these happy experiences. I tackled my school work with the mindset of "can't stop" and was able to do great on all my schoolwork. I learned that education means hard work, meaning that I need to put in the effort through studying, completing work, and participating in class to achieve the grades I want. As well, although schoolwork could be challenging the satisfaction found when finally grasping hard topics was worth the work. I am proud that through excellent examples, such as Mr. Haney, I discovered joy in learning. However, this mindset of "Can't Stop" has been applied to other aspects of my life. For example, after I graduate high school I plan to attend a four-year university and achieve a degree in Dietetics and Nutrition. While it is unlikely that I will change my major, I know that no matter what I choose to study at a university my ambition and drive will be the same. As well, I also plan to marry and start a family, since I have grown up in such a loving and happy household I want to create my version of that; and I plan to teach my children what my parents have taught me: hard work gets you the results you want. With my degree, I expect to find a job that will help me support this future family, but will also provide me with additional leadership experiences and success as I grow as a person in that working environment. Lastly, thank you, Mr. Haney, my parents and all other examples who have helped influence me to become the hardworking person I am. I know that "...life is more than just a read-through", that life is meant to be lived to the fullest and I plan to do just that.