Mental health is just as important as physical health, and people must know it is okay to seek help. The stigma surrounding mental health often prevents people from reaching out to others, so many suffer in silence. I cannot remember exactly what age I began to experience problems, but I will never forget the trigger. At the young age of 52, my grandmother was diagnosed with Stage 4 ovarian cancer. On the day of her diagnosis, the doctors gave her very low odds of remission or survival, and we were told at best she had three months remaining with our family. My grandmother has now been gone for ten years, and her passing triggered a dark road I did not even realize I was traveling down. She was such an influential person in my life and was the first significant loss I had to deal with. Grief is more powerful than some people realize, and it triggered uncontrollable anxiety in my life. That anxiety worsened to the point that I attempted to take my own life. It was hard to gather the courage to face daily teenage struggles without the person who was a rock in my life. I struggled to reach out for the help I needed because I did not want to appear weak in the eyes of friends and family. It is often problematic for those around us to recognize that we are struggling, especially at the young age I was experiencing this. One of my school friends began to see my internal struggle and sought out the help of an adult at our school. I was paired with a fantastic mental health counselor who taught me many new coping mechanisms. With the help of my parents and counselor, I realized that letting grief consume me was not an option. I instead chose to live, serve our current society, and make a genuine difference in this world. When beginning college, my anxiety and fear tried to take over again. In my first fall semester, I was hospitalized due to the rising anxiety from trying to cope with a new environment and such significant changes in my life. Internally, it manifested first as ulcers, which then led to gastritis, enteritis, and IBD, and after six weeks in and out of the hospital, I was finally diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease. This diagnosis has taught me that life is precious and can be so short; it is essential that I use all of my struggles to make a mark in this world. My goal in college is to study National Security and Intelligence, majoring in cybersecurity and foreign affairs. After achieving my master's, I plan to obtain a career in national cybersecurity, hoping to help provide a stable and safe electronic future for our society. Life does not come without failure and success, good and bad days, and ups and downs. It took a long time for me to realize that I had control over how I reacted to life events and that I had choices to make if I wanted to improve my life. Every day, there are more resources available to help guide mental health issues, and with age comes wisdom; I now have more wisdom to recognize when I need help. I do not know what my future holds, but I do know that I plan to pay forward the fantastic care I have received. Thank you for allowing me to tell my story and for considering me for this scholarship. It would greatly ease my financial burden and the loans I need to achieve my dream.

I’ve been told many times when playing golf that missed hits are just practice swings. I was not young when I finally began to take up golfing, and it did not come easy for me. I played many other sports, some as early as 3 years old, but golf certainly was the most challenging for me. Sure, I had played on putt putt courses countless times growing up, as it was an activity my parents and grandparents enjoyed with me as a family. But it was on an actual 18 hole course that I began to learn what patience and discipline actually meant. It’s far easier with a poor hit to just want to throw the club, which I saw a few men do here and there, and less easy to focus on form and follow through and wait for that perfect hit. I began to play golf out of the need to find some peace in my life and create an outlet for my grief. My maternal grandmother had been diagnosed with Stage 4 ovarian cancer, and after years of her courageous battle, she eventually passed, at the young age of 60. My grandmother and I were extremely close and she was a tremendous influence in my life. I struggled mentally after her passing, and after considering taking my own life to end the pain, I decided to forge a new path in my life. I focused more of my time into volunteer work and poured my heart into finding something that would allow me to clear my mind and begin to ease my sadness. That’s when I found golf. Though I will never be league worthy or win any awards, I found a wonderful peace being outside with my own thoughts. There I gave much thought to a promise I made to my grandmother and it is a promise I intend to keep. In the fall, I will be attending The University of Mount Union for biochemistry, specializing in viral science, so that I may obtain a career in a research lab. I intend to find better treatments and cures for diseases, such as cancer and many others, that at the present time do not have one. It is my intention to give back to our society and make a true difference in this world. In a lab, much like in my golf swing, it will take extreme patience to find just the right combination that creates a success story. In every sport I play, my education, my career path, and in my life in general: failure is not a word in my vocabulary, I may just find a million ways that do not work. "The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time." —Thomas Edison.