The Charger Award by Abbie

The Charger Award by Abbie - December 2016 Scholarship Essay

When I was eight years old, while making myself a bowl of pasta, I dropped a pot of boiling water all over myself, scalding my stomach with third degree burns. I spent three weeks in the Grossman Burn Center undergoing surgeries and physical therapy to regain the strength to walk. Simple movements that I once took on a daily basis became extremely difficult, and I spent a lot of time wondering how I would go ever back to normal.
By the end of the summer, the doctors released me from the hospital, and I did not know what my future held for me. I worried a lot. I got older and made new friends, but I felt different and alone. I grew up in the beauty capital of America, possibly the world. I wondered if I would ever get married, how someone would ever fall in love with me, and mostly, what had I done to deserve so much emotional pain.
By the time I got to middle school, I had gotten used to managing my own feelings and other people’s judgments. Luckily, I did not have scars on places that people would see, but I still felt self-conscious. I finally got up the courage to go back to the beach, but I definitely wouldn’t wear a two-piece bathing suit. Ironically, I started playing beach volleyball, the one sport that requires girls to wear bathing suits. It was as if I was choosing to torture myself, giving me a new reason to feel left out and different. My parents were really supportive, but I felt really closed off.
My dad has always had this “never give up” mentality that he has always pushed on me. He taught me I could do anything I put my mind to and I made sure to have this mindset during any challenge I was given. I have been a captain since my sophomore year and I was gratefully awarded the Charger Award by my coaches. The Charger Award was recently created by my high school to honor hard working athletes on the team. I devoted hours, days and weeks to the sport of volleyball during all four years of high school and it was incredible for me to receive the Charger Award. Most importantly, it was an unbelievable and humbling feeling to know my coaches saw the hard work I had put into the teams I played on. Being captain and a teammate, I was able to guide my team to victories this season and further establish the determination my team had to prosper. I will never forget the volleyball experience I was given by my coaches, teammates and most importantly by myself.