Personal Narrative: Let Me See Your Sticks

“Let me see your sticks.” Through barred vision and with borrowed gloves I present my stick for inspection, it’s once flourescent tape now caked with dirt. All eyes are present on the midfield, impatiently waiting for the ref to signal the start of both teams’ playoff run. I look to my other midfielders, jockeying for position, waiting to scoop up the ball that pops out from the faceoff. For now, I’m alone. At the beginning of spring I would have been just another spectator on the sidelines, refilling water bottles for the varsity players, waiting for another practice to prove my worth to the team. Now? I’m taking faceoffs at center field. The ref signals for the faceoff men to get into position, he lays the ball between us, and then blows the whistle. The game has begun.

Joining the lacrosse team, supplemented by joining the wrestling team and moving away for my first year of college, has helped to me recognize who I am as a person and where I want to be in my life. I wish to become the best version of myself that I possibly can be, and when I

She has served as a role model to me of not only compassion, but of showing respect and love to anyone, no matter their circumstances. I have experienced firsthand the horrors and miracles of this profession. In 2011, I was able to see through a patient’s eyes when my Uncle was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Standing by through dozens of rounds of chemotherapy, watching the deterioration of muscle and memory, it was excruciating, watching a man I had known my entire life being molded into someone new by this cancer. Those years of watching my uncle fight through chemotherapy inspired my dreams to become a person who can help those that are in pain, to heal their wounds and to be able to tell a family that their loved one will make it through the