Life Changing by Kaiya

Life Changing by Kaiya - January 2025 Scholarship Essay

A teacher or mentor who has had a significant impact on my education journey is Zach Johnson. He’s the greatest teacher I have ever had and is an even better coach. Before I met him I had faced many challenges. When I was in fourth grade I was finally diagnosed with PANDAS syndrome after struggling with its symptoms for several years. Among other things it causes depression and anxiety, which I struggled with immensely. Also, I had a very low self-esteem and thought I could never be anything other than my diagnosis. This started to change when I had Mr. Johnson as my science teacher in eighth grade. I excelled in his class and was even ⅓ of a question away from a perfect score on the science state test.

That same year he was also trying to get students to join the cross country team, which he would be coaching. I hated running and had always been treated very poorly by coaches in other sports, but I decided to join the team anyway because he wouldn’t stop asking me to. This decision has had a far greater impact on my life than I could have ever imagined and that is due to Coach Johnson. When I first joined the team I had no idea what I was doing and was incredibly slow, but Johnson was always there to support and encourage me. I slowly began to improve and fell in love with running due to Johnson’s incredible approach to coaching. He never yelled or got angry at anyone on the team because it’s more of an individual sport. Instead of yelling, he encouraged me to work harder and push past what I thought my limits were.

From Johnson, I have learned that many things in life are about your mindset and that if you are willing to work hard you can do things you never thought were possible. If someone would have told eighth-grade me, who had no hope for my future, that I would someday have an adult in my life who would encourage me as much as Johnson; and that I would overcome my depression and anxiety by running I would have never believed you. I never would have imagined that in four short years, I would go from being terrified of talking to people to being the captain of a girls cross country team. I didn’t think that I could ever be more than my struggle, more than my diagnosis. But Johnson and cross country taught me that I can be so much more. Johnson has taught me to push through the pain and keep going even when I think I can’t. He’s taught me that the struggle makes you stronger. He’s taught me how to work hard and push myself to succeed.

What Johnson has taught me has completely changed my life. He hasn’t just made me stronger physically, but mentally as well. Because of him I have gained so much confidence and am a completely different person than I was when I first joined the cross country team. He has been an amazing coach, mentor, and teacher; and I will forever be grateful to him for what he has done in my life. I have so many great memories from cross country and I will carry the things I have learned from Johnson with me for the rest of my life.