Name: Ella McKernan
State: Pennsylvania
High School: Wyoming Area Secondary Center
College: Michigan State University

Hello, my name is Ella McKernan and I go to Wyoming Area Secondary Center and I am committed to Michigan State University to play field hockey.

In this essay I will be talking about how high school athletics has impacted my life.

I cannot think of anything that had a more positive impact on myself besides high school athletics. I can remember as an elementary student waiting until the day I was on a high school team.

Little did I know the different ways that high school sports would help me to grow as an individual. I have been a member of the field hockey team, swim/dive team and the track and field team.

Each sport has impacted my life in a different way.

Field hockey taught me to be a leader. This is a sport I love and knew that I wanted to play in college. I have a naturally outgoing personality, so being a voice on the field came easily to me.

Being a leader on the field then helps you to become a leader off of the field. When you are one of the upperclassmen on the team, with local and state accolades, that comes with a responsibility to be a good role model for the younger team members.

People are watching you and how you act. There is a constant reminder to conduct yourself in a good way. My body language and attitude at practice and during a game is something that the younger team members watch and mimic at times. This taught me to discipline myself each and every day.

Swimming/Diving taught me that sometimes it is good to go out of your comfort zone. It taught me to not be afraid and to take a chance.

Diving was something I had never done, but always wanted to try. When I was younger, my mom would always teach me so many flips that were intriguing to me.

I went out for the team as a diver during my junior year, knowing nothing about the sport. By the end of my junior year, I became a diver and a swimmer and ended up qualifying for districts for swimming.

My senior swim and dive season recently came to an end, and I finished it off with three district medals. This taught me that you could accomplish anything with practice and hard work.

Track and field taught me to trust your coach. Sometimes you may be better at an event you did not even think was possible. I was always a 400m and 800m runner.

My junior year, I realized that I was able to fit in one more event. I tested out the 300m hurdles and found that I was quite good at it. That is an event I had never considered.

I was hesitant at first, but I listened, learned, and I won first place at districts and went to states.

To say that high school athletics has had a positive impact on my life is an understatement.

High school athletics has made every difference in my life, and helped to shape me into the person that I am today.

Athletics helps you learn to be a team player, which you will need later in life in the workplace. It helps you learn how to win and how to lose.

Life is not always fair and you do not always get what you want.

Although winning is great, losing and how you respond to that is also very important.

Athletics teaches you all of these things and allows you to have fun along the way. All of these important aspects and lessons from athletics have also intermixed into my academic life.

Every day, I remind myself that if I can accomplish anything in sports, then I can accomplish anything in the classroom as well.

This post is an unedited piece written by Ella McKernan. She is participating in the 2025 Dr. Judith Benscoter Female Athlete Scholarship contest. To vote for her, please purchase a $2.99 one-time membership and cast your ballot. You may also vote for her video on our Instagram account. The scholarship winner will be determined by most votes (likes) on Instagram video and the most votes cast on the candidate’s essay writing.

Voting runs from March 13-16. Winners will be announced March 17.