My Major: My Mission by Shon

My Major: My Mission by Shon - February 2024 Scholarship Essay

Since I was a freshman in high school, I have had the opportunity to be an angler on the Evangel Lightning Bass Fishing team. It has been a most rewarding experience and has opened up so many exciting doors I never thought would be possible to walk through.

Competitive bass fishing is a fast-growing sport that is a positive activity for young people, but is also one that attracts quite a bit of positive and negative attention. Positive attention examples are stories of overcoming physical limitations, college dreams being realized and even rags to riches type stories where the angler started with his rod and reel and hitched rides to the lake just to hone his skills by fishing off the local pier and then has reached stardom in the fishing industry by winning title upon title and has been awarded monetary prizes and even brand new boats. Negative examples would be the focus on fish care or lack thereof. There are many tournament trails that do not put the appropriate emphasis on the care of natural resources, including the fish that are caught, weighed and released back into their natural environment. In quite a few cases, the fish mortality rate of tournaments is much higher than it should be and creates attention of those that would love to see this sport no longer be an option. It was this that has helped me decide my major.

After being in this sport for four years now and learning and seeing first hand the positive and negative impacts of bass-fishing, I decided that my major would be environmental science. I want to be able to dig deeper into the habitats and behaviors of fish in their natural environments. Along with that comes research of the effects of human behavior and development around and within the natural habitats of these fragile creatures. With everything there is balance. This includes how we affect the water quality in which they live, how we stress them with changes to their environments and how our own development of the area that connects us to them changes even the structure in which they live, thrive and reproduce.

When human action causes an imbalance in the natural resources around them, a ripple effect begins that can reach disastrous levels. It is my desire to be able to identify these effects and be able to help develop environmental solutions so that fish and humans can coexist and each enjoy the benefits of the resources while keeping those resources as natural as possible to preserve the beauty of all that is around us in the outdoors. Environmental science and the study of the intricate balance of humans and nature will allow me to witness these effects and learn new and innovative ways to help reduce our impact on the natural world around us, as well as these creatures that help me compete in a sport that I am passionate about.

Fish care on the water during competitive events is something that is very important. I want generations upon generations to be able to develop a love and appreciation of not just the sport, but the living things that make the sport even possible. I am excited to share that with my own children and grandchildren one day and instill an appreciation for nature and the living things that call it home. Being a successful environmental science student will help me achieve that dream.

Shon "Skipper" Stallings
Senior, Class of 2024