Overwhelming Success by Blake

Overwhelming Success by Blake - August 2022 Scholarship Essay

After a grueling practice with the tuft temperature pushing 114 degrees, I sat at a student desk in my mom's empty classroom. I am attempting to figure out a way to tell her that I am already feeling the pressure of the balance of academics and athletics and it is only August 3rd. I would like for the outside world to see me as someone who has overwhelming confidence. I am a 16 year old junior of is a returning varsity football player with a 3.98 gpa. What do I have to be pressured about at this point in the year? School stats in two weeks and we are only on day three of football practice. Dual credit classes don’t start for a month, and I should be loving the remaining day of summer vacation.
After I mustered the wording to discuss it with my mother, she told me to find a way to be an advocate for younger students feeling my pain or find an older athlete to ask for guidance. Later that day after I calmed down and processed her suggestion, I emailed our guidance counselor and asked her if we had a program for athletes to adopt other athletes in the upcoming school year. I am excited to say that my academic goal is to start a program where upperclassmen will be checking in with underclassmen about their mental health, grade, and on the field performance. I am hopeful that this will keep others from feeling my hesitation.
I feel that verbalizing my academic concerns to the guidance counselor will help everyone understand that even the high achieving student in advance and dual credit classes have confidence struggles and academic concerns. I think that one of the easiest ways to make myself feel better about the academic pressure is by helping bring awareness to the issues I am facing. In doing just that, I hope to help other students like myself.