Hello everyone! My name is Rachel Schmidt and I am a senior at Big Valley Christian High School in Modesto, California. Throughout my life, I have been very involved in a lot of hobbies such as music, theater and softball. I have also been super involved in volunteering. Some places I have volunteered at include my church's youth worship team, main service worship team, kids ministries, H Street Ministries (a non-profit organization that helps the homeless in Downtown Modesto) and Miracle League (an organization that helps kids with special needs play baseball). When I become an adult, I would love to become an elementary music teacher. My mother is an elementary music teacher as well and it has been amazing to help her with her lesson planning and helping the kids hands-on. I am very passionate about becoming a music teacher because the more I have been volunteering to help, the more I want to help kids in the future. Not only do I want to become a music teacher, but I want to be a mentor to the students as well. You never know what each student is walking through, so I want to pour into the students as much as I can and I want the students to know that they can always come to me. One sacrifice I have made to accomplish my educational goals is my volunteering in kids ministries. Over the years I have served most of the Sundays in the year and have volunteered for big kids events. This opportunity to volunteer has made me fall in love with children and has made me realize that I want to impact many kids. Another sacrifice I have made is becoming a teacher's assistant for the elementary music teacher at my school. I was thinking about only having five classes instead of seven my senior year but I decided to become a teacher's assistant for a teacher I'd never met before. I am her assistant for two of my periods and I have learned so much. I could have not been at school for most of the day, but I decided to help and learn more about the education field. One last sacrifice I made for my educational goals was helping my mother with her lessons during Covid. I created a hand puppet named Bobilina that taught the musical lesson of the day in a short video and the kids absolutely loved her! The students understood the musical terms like never before and they always asked if she was going to be at the next lesson! I could have not helped since my homework load at the time was tremendously awful, but I wanted to help my mom and I loved making the kids happy. One personal sacrifice I have made is to take multiple online college courses during my school year. My personal goal is to graduate early so I can help kids as soon as I can. I didn't need to take the courses but I did anyway. The classes I took have helped me with my time management and have made me more responsible. I would love this scholarship because it would help my parents financially since this is a very hard time for them. Also, this would help me become more determined and motivated to make my dream become my reality. Thank you for your consideration.

Hello everyone! My name is Rachel Schmidt and I am a senior at Big Valley Christian High School in Modesto, California. I am an only child with wonderful parents and an amazing dog named Butterscotch. Throughout my life, I have been a part of many hobbies such as music, theater and softball. I have also had many opportunities to serve in the community including my church's youth worship team, main service's worship team, kids ministries on Sundays and major events throughout the year, school's worship team, H Street Ministries (a non-profit organization that serves the homeless) and Miracle League (an organization that helps kids with special needs play baseball). My life so far has been an amazing ride and I can't wait for my future. Throughout my high school years, I have volunteered in many places as you have read in the previous paragraph. I tried to keep my life busy with multiple things going on at once. Not only did I keep myself occupied with charity, but I also occupied myself with softball and theater, which would be all week. Last year I was a part of my school's varsity softball team and my school's production of Fiddler on the Roof. I had the privilege of playing Yente in Fiddler on the Roof and I had a great time playing third base for the softball team. Little did I know that my season would last a month longer and little did I know that we would go to the state championships. Because of the extended season, I had to work super hard both in softball and theater. Sometimes I had to go to extra rehearsals for theater since my character needed more time for character development. If I wasn't doing one thing I was doing the other. Every day would be dedicated to doing my extracurriculars and it was very exhausting. Unfortunately, the softball championships were on the same day as my production date so I had to make the hard decision of missing a show to play for the championships since my coaches wanted me to be there. Eventually, we won the state championships and I got to be in three out of the four shows for Fiddler. Even though it was very stressful, I proved to my director and coaches that I was responsible and I am reliable. My vision for my future is to either be an elementary music teacher or an elementary school counselor. I have been taking multiple classes online all through my high school years and my main goal is to graduate early to get started with adulthood as soon as I can. I also want to try to earn my master's degree in education if I decide to become a music teacher. This goal has been a goal of mine for a long time and I hope that everything will turn out. I would love this scholarship because it would help my parents financially since this is a hard time for finances. Also, it would help me become more determined and motivated to make my dream become my reality. Thank you for your consideration.

Hello everyone! My name is Rachel Schmidt and I am a senior at Big Valley Christian High School in Modesto, California. I am an only child with loving parents and an amazing dog named Butterscotch. Throughout the years I have been involved in multiple hobbies such as music, theater and softball. I have also been a part of many opportunities to volunteer including the church's youth worship team, main service band member, kids ministries, H street ministries (non-profit organization to help the homeless in Downtown Modesto) and Miracle League (organization for kids with special needs to play baseball). When I grow up, I would love to become either an elementary music teacher or an elementary school counselor. I want to be a person that many students can look up to, not just as a teacher but as a mentor. My mom is an elementary music teacher and she is an amazing teacher (not to be biased). However, when everyone had to move online for teaching, my mom struggled to keep her students engaged. Many of her students wouldn't pay attention and it was heartbreaking seeing her students not wanting to engage in her class. That's when Bobilina came into their lives. Bobilina is a hand puppet that taught the students the lesson of the day in a short video. Once Bobilina came into their lives, many students could not go through a lesson without her. Every time they had a lesson they would constantly ask my mom if Bobilina was going to be in their lesson and they also believed that my mom was the voice behind Bobilina when it was mine. This creative idea made me decide that I wanted to become a teacher and that I could impact many young lives through a puppet. If I had the money and resources, I would improve my backgrounds and props for my videos. I would use very old props for my videos and the props I do have are not beneficial for the students to learn. I believe that new doll props, outfits and backgrounds (ex. doll homes, sets, etc.) would make the videos more engaging. If I earned this scholarship, it would mean so much to me and my family because it is a very scary time for finances and I don't want to put that burden on my parents. We plan on taking loans out but I don't want my parents to have too much college debt. Also, if I did earn this scholarship, it would help with my motivation and determination to make my dream of becoming a teacher/counselor become my reality.

Hello everyone! My name is Rachel Schmidt and I am a high school senior in Modesto, California. I am very involved with lots of extracurricular activities such as music, theater and softball for multiple years. I also have volunteered throughout my life which includes: kids ministries at my church, youth worship team leader, main service worship member (singer), H Street Ministries (serving the homeless downtown), and Miracle League (special needs organization that allows those with needs play baseball). When I become an adult, I would love to become an elementary music teacher. I believe that the people of today are struggling to find people who are educated. There are a lot of problems in our world right now and it is very important to have leaders that have had experience and/or education that lead up to the leadership role. Currently, multiple jobs are looking for and/or hiring people who don't even have an understanding of the job or have had no experience whatsoever. I believe that this is not the way that society shouldn't go. This is why it is so important for the future generation of youth should have a good education so they can make the world a better place and help keep our country succeeding. Not only do I want to impact students through music I would also love to impact and mentor the youth by making personal connections with them. Becoming an elementary music teacher means seeing multiple students per day and it is very hard to make personal connections with each student that walks through the door. When I become a music teacher, I want to be different and I want to make sure that I know a good amount about each student. My goal as a person is to be a light to as many people as possible and to be the person that people can come to me about anything. As a teacher, this is the perfect opportunity for me to pour into the students. You never know what each student goes through at home and it is important for these students to have someone they can count on to talk about their lives or maybe just to have a friend. This is something I want to happen when I become an elementary music teacher. I would love this scholarship because it would help my parents financially since this is a very important year for finances. I would also love this scholarship because it would give me motivation and help me with my determination to make my dream become a reality. Thank you for your consideration.

Hello everyone! My name is Rachel Schmidt and I am a senior at Big Valley Christian School in Modesto, California. I am an only child with wonderful parents and an amazing dog named Butterscotch. I am also involved in a lot of hobbies such as music, theater and softball that I have done for many years. Not only do I like my hobbies, but I serve in multiple areas as well including my church’s kids ministries and youth worship team. When I go to college, I would love to become an elementary music teacher. My mother is also a music teacher and I have been very blessed to help her with her lesson planning and helping her students hands-on. When I become a music teacher, I plan to inspire many students not only through music but through my teaching. I want to pour into each student and I want to become a person where they could look up to and to inspire other students. The most important part about teaching is to have your heart set on the students, and I believe I can inspire students through my attitude and happiness every single day. I would love this scholarship because it would bless my family financially since this is a hard time for finances. I would also like this scholarship because it would mean the world to me that I earned this money and I can really make my dream become a reality.