Scholarship Recipients

My youngest brother Sutton passed away from Leukemia during the summer after my freshman year when he was five years old. Through the 14 months he was fighting cancer and after, I found it really hard to stay motivated dealing with the loss of my brother.

My mental health was definitely impacted as a result and I found it hard to enjoy the things I used to before he passed away. I overcame those feelings though by finding physical and mental outlets for my grief through soccer and other extracurriculars. I think that I have worked harder at things in general since then and the loss of my brother has led to me becoming more driven to achieve my goals for myself but also in remembrance of him. Also I changed my outlook on my life goals, where no matter what I end up pursuing in the future, I want to help others and work towards the betterment of society. I have developed a new sense of empathy for others as I understand what a lot of people are enduring and how it feels to deal with loss.

Also, simply understanding that anyone can be dealing with something in their lives that you may not know of and that the best thing you can do is to treat them kindly no matter the way they treat you. Losing my youngest brother definitely changed my perspective on life as a whole.

I try to make the most of everything because I don’t know how much time I’ll be given and live life without regrets. I make more time for my family and those close to me for those same reasons and I don’t want to regret not spending enough time with them down the road.