Hobbies and interests
Soccer
Church
Weightlifting
Beach
Spikeball
Spending Time With Friends and Family
Reading
Christianity
I read books daily
Jacob Leon
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FinalistJacob Leon
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FinalistBio
My goal is to love God and love others. I have been blessed with all the opportunities and open doors that God has given me and I want to use them to honor and glorify Him and bring others to know who He is, what He's done for us, and who He is calling us to be. I have experienced plenty of hardships in my life and God has brought me out of every single one of them so I want others to experience this freedom, truth, and victory in their lives in Jesus' name. I love doing this through soccer, school, working out, serving in ministry, and my daily interactions with others.
Education
Hope International University
Bachelor's degree programMajors:
- Psychology, Other
Minors:
- Bible/Biblical Studies
Miscellaneous
Desired degree level:
Doctoral degree program (PhD, MD, JD, etc.)
Graduate schools of interest:
Transfer schools of interest:
Majors of interest:
Career
Dream career field:
Sports
Dream career goals:
To become a sport psychologist for a professional sports team.
Employee
C.R. McMullen Co., Inc.2020 – 20211 year
Sports
Soccer
Varsity2017 – 20214 years
Arts
Marcelo Leon and Son's Painting
Painting2018 – Present
Public services
Volunteering
Fellowship of Christian Athletes — Student leader2019 – Present
Future Interests
Volunteering
Philanthropy
Charles Cheesman's Student Debt Reduction Scholarship
My name is Jacob Leon. I am a student-athlete at Hope International University on the men's soccer team. I am a first-generation college student and my family is from Ecuador. My parents moved to the United States in 2000 and I was born in 2003. I have two older brothers who didn't have the opportunity to attend college because of expenses and work commitments. I graduated from San Marcos high school in 2021 and am blessed to have a scholarship at HIU. The most important things in my life are my faith in God and my family, without these two things I wouldn't be where I am today.
I am currently studying Psychology with a concentration in sports psychology at HIU. Originally I was studying communications aiming to become a sports broadcaster. After learning about sports psychology in my first semester at HIU, I realized that sports psychology is what I want to study because helping others is a passion of mine and I want to help athletes of all levels succeed and reach their full potential by teaching them mental training strategies to improve performance and enjoy their sport. As a result, I changed my major to sports psychology. I have also seen an overall increase of improvement and enjoyment of my own game as a result of what I am studying in my sports psychology classes.
I plan on graduating from HIU with a bachelor's degree in 6 semesters and then applying to graduate school which will also be here at HIU in their marriage and family therapy program. As for my career and life aspirations, I'm not exactly sure what it is I want to do or the direction I should go but I have options and open doors that God has put in my life that I can gravitate towards. Becoming a sports psychologist would be awesome and something I can see myself doing. I wouldn't mind becoming a therapist to counsel clients and help people to move forward with their lives. If I continue to play soccer and improve to get to a level where I can play professionally then I would love to take that route considering it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and an experience that is time-restricted because age does not allow you to play professionally for very long. I have also considered going into ministry and working for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA). I was a student leader for FCA in high school and loved it and I know I would love to work for FCA as an area representative as well.
In high school, I was an FCA student leader, a student section leader at my high school football games for ASB (associated student body), the captain for the varsity soccer team, and a spike ball club president. Since coming to Hope, I became an FCA student leader and helped FCA in its first semester at HIU. I also recently began a Bible study with my team to help my teammates wherever they're at in their faith grow in their relationship with God.
My biggest accomplishment up to this point in my life has been discipling others and helping them grow closer in their relationship with God. It's been such a blessing to see what God does in and through me to the people around me.
I plan on using the money I save by paying down my student loans to continue advancing God's kingdom. I want to tithe 1/10 of the money to my home church and save the rest for other projects God has for my future.