“Why do you like football?”

One boy asked the question, but all of them gave me The Stare. The Stare that motivates me even though it makes my stomach churn.

The first time I received The Stare was when I had my head shaved to raise money for St. Baldrick’s Childhood Cancer research. A guiding principle of mine is to integrate service into my life whenever I can, so I didn’t listen to the people telling me how “weird” I’d look as a girl with a bald head. As clumps of my long hair dropped to the floor, I saw The Stare in the eyes of all the people in the audience: disbelief, shock, suspicion. And a hint of respect.

Although I had always been interested in football, it took a boy's challenge to excite my love for it: “No way a girl like you actually loves football. Name 5 players on the Bears.” And I couldn’t do it.

I felt like a phony, and for a while that moment burned in my mind. I spent solitary hours memorizing everything from rules to players to schemes, becoming a student of the game. However, I discovered that what I really love about football is the business side. Ever since, I’ve spent hours listening to the SBJ Buzzcast, reading Front Office Sports newsletters, and independently taking classes about sports business.

Pursuing some area of business was always my dream after a local cafe closed down. I found out a new cafe, Hometown, was launching their second location on the same property, and I wondered: how would Hometown be successful in the same location that was not profitable for Cafe Aroma? Curious to observe the process up close, I became Hometown’s youngest employee and was exposed to the challenging, exciting, creative world of business. I joined DECA at school and invited Hometown’s owners to present to the club about their entrepreneurship experience (promoting their store), five students came; two years later, under my DECA presidency, over 100 attended.

The innovation of business, the community of sports, and the power of service are three passions that drive me; pursuing sports business provides me with the opportunity to fuse all three. To act on my fascination with the industry, I became my high school football team’s first ever Business and Operations Manager, and the only female in the organization. While I was nervous about inserting myself into the male-dominated world of high school football, I remained confident in my ability to convert fear to fuel and mistakes to lessons.

I am forever grateful for the people who first gave me The Stare when I shaved my head. And for everyone who will in the future. I thank them for igniting my resilience and motivating me to stand strong by my convictions. As I pursue my passions in sports, business, and service, I am grateful to know I will stare back, every time.

Major:
Business Honors

Honors Program:
Canfield Business Honors Program

Other Academic Interests:
Sports Business, Finance, Entrepreneurship

What drew you to the Forty Acres Scholars Program?
Coming from Illinois, I never could have predicted that I’d end up at the University of Texas. But when I met the other finalists for the program, I understood just how amazing and unique the FASP community is. The peers I met were not only highly motivated, impressive, and passionate, but they were also friendly, generous, and humble. Being part of such a strong, stimulating, tight-knit community paired with prime access to the resources of such an extensive and extraordinary alumni network—it’s an unbeatable combination!