Friendship means a lot of different things to me. I believe a true friend is someone I can trust with personal feelings or events that are going on in my life or happened. I should be bake to trust them just as they should be able to trust me. A true friend should be given a lot of respect as well as expect the same in return not because I gave it to them but because in general it’s the right thing to do. Friends show loyalty to each other if someone we barely know try’s to verbally attack us. A true friend has the courage to take a stand and show integrity if one of us does something questionable or might do something questionable. It’s great to know friends will hold each other accountable. Friendship is important for me emotionally and spiritually as well as having someone physically there I can spend time with a talk to. If a person does not have same built respect, moral values, integrity, and good character then they are just an acquaintance not a friend. We know many people but only have a handful of true friends. True friends sometimes will drop their owns needs if they’re needed in an emergency.

Wrestling has given me so many positive memories it is hard to pick just one to talk about. My most recent memory was just a week ago competing at Folkstyle Nationals in Colorado. I road with a group of girls all from Texas and became very close to them all. It was one of the first times in a year which I stayed smiling the entire time. It wasn’t about the wins or losses but the experiences during the rides to various locations, site seeing, hotel stay, eating together as a team, and cheering for each other was simply awesome. At the start of my senior year I had an issue with a male HS coach and I ended up speaking up to administration and ended up leaving the team. There were many females and males who left the team and no parents or teammates even raised any issues higher. By me being the first, I was ignored like all issues never happened. I left the team as a defending state champion, and was ranked 3rd in the nation last year after Fargo at #3, and then late last year moving up to 138 ranked #10. I workout before school, immediately after, then go to club at night. I didn’t get there by being lazy like the HS coach acted. This last tournament allowed me to finish my Folkstyle career on my terms. I didn’t have a HS Folkstyle season and still finished 3rd but more importantly I learned how fun this sport can be again. I had so many wrestlers I rode with on the side of my mat cheering me on as I cheered during their matches as well. It was so inspiring watching each other. I persevered during an obstacle this year attending the tournament when I was mentally done with the sport. Attending this trip helped me decide I have so much more left and cannot wait for college to pursue my degree and then become a wrestling coach myself. There are not that many female wrestling coaches in Texas and I want to give future girls an opportunity to learn from a female coach who will not treat them with disrespect. I started out competing against males and ran into male coaches or parents who didn’t want their son competing against me. I have been able to meet a lot of high level female wrestlers like Randi Miller Olympic bronze medalist, Adeline Gray a six time world champion, and Sara McMann Olympic silver medalist. These ladies helped encourage me and my latest memory is empowering after looking back and watching a video of one of my matches that had nothing to do with what was going on on the mat but what I saw on the side of the mat. Watching new friends and a few I recently met this year start jumping up and down and seeing it on a video in a different light, helps me realize just how awesome this sport can be. I want to continue helping younger female wrestlers pursue their dreams when I’m done. I want to use my many memories and experiences to give back, let them understand that if I can do it they can too. I want them to know it’s not always an easy road but we can all get through it together even if we do have to meet on the mat against each other. Together we can grow the sport and crush old societal norms. This experience ranks barley above my experience at Fargo last year finishing 3rd which was a great memory.

I am pursuing education to become an art teacher as well as a wrestling coach. I will be the first in my family to live on a college campus to pursue a degree. I was the first state champion in wrestling male or female in my city. I will be attending Texas Woman’s University and competing in the their first ever woman’s wrestling team. My mom competed in the first all woman’s National Woman’s Golden Gloves. My dad and mother are both passionate in helping me pursue my goals and dreams. I want to be an Art teacher as I love working with kids. I had several awesome art teachers and my senior year this year I have a really awesome art teacher. They have all helped me decide this is what I really want to pursue. I volunteer with Meals On Wheels with my mother and being a teacher would allow me the schedule especially during summers to continue volunteering with various programs. There are many teachers throughout my life who have helped me when I struggled not just in class but when I needed emotional support by spending a few minutes with me at different times throughout the years. I have been drawing since I was little when other kids were most likely using electronics or doing other stuff. I use art to express different emotions and it’s a great stress reliever. By obtaining my educational degree in art degree, I will be able to always be close to the thing I have loved the most. I want to pursue my masters degree immediately after obtaining my bachelors degree. I already have a lot of teachers who have told me to look them up when I graduate because I would make a great teacher. I also have several wrestling coaches who have sent messages to my parents letting them know they would love to hire me as a wrestling coach to work beside them. Those coaches have coached me at a high level on Team Texas National Team and they are head wrestling coaches at various high schools. I have closely watched many teachers as well as coaches so I can find things I like about their styles for when I become a teacher and coach. I have also paid attention to teachers and coaches I did not like and it will help me to not be like them. I want to inspire other females so when they see me teaching and coaching, they will know they can do the same. The sport of wrestling needs more female coaches and I want to be apart of that growth.

My favorite piece of art if a piece which I created during the summer before my senior year. This piece is a large collage of facial drawings, as well as a few drawings of bodies. These drawings depict a variety of mental illnesses and inner thoughts. I have personally had stressful situations, anxiety over my body during elementary, and middle school, and I experienced many types of mental bullying which females created rumors. This piece of art covers not just my emotional experiences but friends , other students I have met over the years, and symptoms of body dysmorphia, anxiety, depression, feeling trapped, bipolar, and other illnesses which I have learned about through television and social media. I also created a piece of art this year tied to this piece which is titled Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil. It covers a situation which adult teachers, coaches, and school administrators didn’t believe my issues. My art teacher loved this piece and helped me submit it to an Art competition called Vase.

I want to become an Art teacher in high school because I have loved drawing, painting, using charcoal, sculpting, and using emotions to create art. I have had wonderful art teachers in school and they have helped me decide I want to be like them as well. Both of my grandmothers were artist and my grandfather on my moms side was an architect who created a lot of pencil drawings. Education is important to me because there were a few times I did have some teachers who were not very personable and I was fortunate to have at least one teacher I could talk to. Luckily it has always been an art teacher I could talk to and help me learn different ways to express myself or maybe approach issues a different way. I believe I have an artistic thought process that could help impact students who might be in similar situations. I believe I can help students from all walks of life as my parents kept my brother and I around many different cultures through sports, my parents friends, and my school was very diverse. I have a lot of patience with kids and was able to be part of Partners in PE during middle school. Partners in PE is a program that helps students with special needs. Unfortunately in high school there were only a small number allowed to be apart of the program and it seemed the more popular kids were able to fill those spots. I still found ways to helping kids during classes of teachers needed help with them. I would love to teach Art at the high school level and or elementary level. I want to be able to give students an awesome experience like my art teachers gave me. I want to use my passion to show students how they can learn to use their emotion to dig deep down and be creative theirselves. I have learned that everyone can be artist. It might not be painting, or drawing, or even clay sculpting, but they might be creative in building houses, creating development plans for youth sports, or creating or designing ways to improve business ideas or other aspects of life. Art is in the eyes of the beholder. We each can be artist and sometimes it takes passionate teachers to help students unlock their artistic ability.