There’s a saying that busy people are the ones that get things done. I believe wholeheartedly in this and have even based much of my life on this motto. I’ve worked extremely hard to become an excellent student and I’m highly involved in my community and school. I believe that participating in extracurricular activities helps to build a good and strong character. Sports have helped me to develop leadership skills, sportsmanship and teamwork, as well as getting me involved in my community. Expository speaking in Speech and Drama has taught me how to be comfortable speaking in front of a crowd. I also developed proper presentation skills and gained a tremendous amount of confidence and social skills. Being in the public eye has definitely helped motivate me to maintain a good self-image, because I’ve become a role model for younger students and represent my school. I’m constantly motivated to do my best in extracurricular activities and I feel that motivation carries through into other aspects of life as well.

I believe that leadership is a very important quality that everyone should possess. I’ve learned that in order to get things accomplished, it’s important that you learn how to take charge of a situation. Being elected President of CHS Key Club has been one of the greatest honors during my high school career. It requires enormous amounts of responsibility and leadership, but leading the club in volunteer activities is well worth the effort. Another leadership role I hold is the shift manager at one of our local video stores during the summer. I open the store, deal with customers, organize and sort orders, manage the cash register, and close at the end of the day. Helping to run a small business during the summer has helped me to learn more about responsibility, organization, and developing social skills.

In order to reach my goals after high school, I know that further education is necessary and will present several new opportunities for my future. I want to peruse a career that will allow me to help people and after job shadowing at a hospital, I am now certain that I want to go into the medical field. However, I believe that owe much of my desire to help people to my volunteer experiences. Some volunteering that has provided the greatest personal awards has been with my church youth group. We often make gifts to give to the residents at the nursing home and hospital, or just stop in to visit with them throughout the year. We go caroling for people who are unable to leave their houses during the holiday season and rake leaves or shovel snow for the elderly as well. These times have been the most rewarding volunteer experiences I've participated in because I feel that I'm truly helping to make people happy. This is my reason for deciding to attend Montana State University-Bozeman where I will major in Exercise Science within the College of Health and Human Development.

My theory is to put everything you have into everything you do. Whether it is sports, music, clubs, volunteering, or school, keeping my talents to myself is only going to hold me back. I know that activities have helped me realize what it means to set a goal for myself and stick to it. I now understand that you can’t get much accomplished when you don’t work towards your goals everyday and avoid procrastination. Learning how to keep up with extracurricular activities and classes has helped me realize my own potential. Because of what I’ve learned about myself through school, community and work activities, I know that I never have to settle for anything less than my dreams if I work hard.