How to write a winning scholarship essay - Gen Tanabe, Kelly Tanabe 2018
Essays about athletics
30 winning scholarship essays
sara bei, cIf scholar-athlete of the year From Montgomery High School in Santa Rosa, California, Sara was still excited about her team’s underdog victory at the state cross country meet when she wrote this essay. One of the most profound lessons that she learned was how to motivate her team, a topic she uses as the centerpiece of this essay. Along with a half-tuition scholarship to Stanford, Sara also won over $6,000 in scholarships. She encourages all students to be relentless about applying for scholarships since in her words, “sometimes the ones you end up winning are the one you almost didn’t apply to.”
Inspiring greatness
As a three-time state cross country champion entering my senior year, I hadn’t expected this season to be much different than the others. I planned on working hard to achieve my goal of winning state, and I looked forward to having fun with my teammates in the process. In previous years, our girls’ team hadn’t been very motivated, leaving me to take it upon myself to make it to state as an individual. Little did I know that a completely different challenge lay ahead of me for my senior year.
At the beginning of the year, I was pleasantly surprised to find two newcomers fresh out of junior high, who had decided to come out for the team to give us the fourth and fifth runners that we so desperately needed. Immediately I began to ponder what our team’s potential was, and as always, I shot high. I organized a team sleep-over and, while beading necklaces and watching movies, tried to instill in them the goal of winning the state championship. Most of them were doubtful, even shocked, that I thought a team who failed to even make it to the state meet the previous year could have a shot at winning it. However, I was prepared to help them to not only realize their potential and believe in themselves, but to work together as a group and strengthen one another in the process.
Throughout the road to the state meet, I was busy trying to find ways to motivate the girls to train harder. I gave them little weekly gifts and notes, made breakfast as incentive for morning runs before school, organized team bonding activities outside of practice and even made a “State Champion Challenge Chart.” I tried everything possible to get them to do the necessary preparation to be the best, as well as have fun and come together as a team. In the process, I found myself devoting so much time to the team that I was hardly channeling any energy into my own training.
Although this concerned my coach, I reassured her that by working with the team, we were helping each other and improving together.
Finally, the day arrived in a flutter of nerves, anxiety and excitement. After giving them a pep talk, we toed the line together and I thought back on all the months we spent training, planning and dreaming for this moment.
True, I was out to become the first person to win four state titles, but as I chanted our cheer with each of the girls, I realized that my real drive to win was coming from our team’s need for every point we could get. That day, we upset the first- and second-ranked teams, with each girl running the race of her lifetime to become the Division II State Champions! Seeing the smiles and tears of pure joy on the faces of my teammates, I realized that beyond the medals and championships, there lies a treasure of value that far surpasses any other individual award in inspiring greatness in others.