Aloha Football Scholarship Essay

One’s experiences in college often serve as her/his most concentrated and profound development as an individual. College requires many students to leave their communities and forces all to make countless decisions that will significantly influence the rest of their lives. These decisions often include who one will become, who they might spend the rest of their life with, and what career path one will follow. Although these decisions place great stress and pressure on the student, this pressure shapes and pushes the student to become the complete person who he/she shall become. Chickering’s Theory of Psychosocial Development lays out the transformative steps along a student’s path of growth while in college. With Chickering’s fifth vector of

Countless tangible and intangible actors undoubtedly shaped my identity development; however, the Aloha Football Program had the most unique and formative influences on my early development. I began participating in the Aloha Youth Football program at age ten and consider myself a member of the program to this day. Beyond the sport of football, the Aloha program and its coaches encouraged a life of togetherness, positive attitude, perseverance, and excellence. In addition to the above tenants, I learned the importance of setting goals, time management, and balancing competition with cooperation. In one instance, my commitment to the football program offered an indispensable identity building opportunity. I spent my freshman and sophomore years of high school football on the JV-II team, where they put the players who they would cut if it were an option. At the end of freshman year, I set a goal to become the best player possible by senior year. My sophomore and junior year I earned the “most improved” award as voted on by my teammates and became the starting quarterback at the end of junior year. In short, the football program instilled within me the drive, vision, and perseverance to accomplish my goals despite the odds. Overall, the Aloha Football Program built an identity foundation that would prove fruitful and unique as

As discussed in class, many college students often define moral code based upon peer influences; yet, I decided to question what was truly important to me. This mindset came largely due to Dr. Franco’s class freshman year; nonetheless, I began to make many decisions outside of the status quo. As Blimling mentions on page 142, one crucial step in identity formation is differentiation. My freshman year offered countless opportunities for me to make my own choices. From academics to social life, dating and well-being, my initial experiences at college often pushed me outside of my comfort zone, thus enabling me to reflect, decide, and think on my own. Without these unique experiences, my development as an individual would have stagnated. Fortunately, the decisions of college life continuously push me to refine and question what it means to be