Life has taught me the importance of family. My sister and I are twins, so we were always inseparable — best friends. Having two older brothers instilled in me a competitive spirit that helped me confront challenges. When we played sports together, they wouldn't take it easy on me. Playing basketball with them and their friends, I had my shot swatted countless times. As I grew up, I attributed my success with soccer to the days spent with my brothers. I was blessed with two amazing parents who gave me examples of how to live a good life.

Life taught me my greatest lesson at 11 years old, when my dad was diagnosed with cancer. The following years were rough as we faced the unknown. When I was in 8th grade, he ended up passing away. As hard as it was, I learned more in that time than ever. I developed empathy for those around me and realized that anyone could be masking a challenging experience that they were going through. Those early years shaped me into the person that I would grow up to be. Family and friends became so much more important to me.

My family had a motto that helped us press on when times got hard. Our motto was "Keep walking." Sometimes life got heavy, and we reminded each other to put one foot in front of the other and keep walking. Eventually, that motto became my mindset for life. Rather than becoming overwhelmed by my situations, I knew that I could conquer any challenge by taking it one step at a time.

I was fortunate to have a close-knit group of friends from the time I was 5 years old. When my dad passed away, I stuck with them and realized the value of having good friends and strong relationships. At 13 years old, my peers didn’t always know what to say about my father’s passing. One of the valuable lessons I learned from my friends was that you don't always need to come up with the perfect thing to say to someone to help them cope. Rather, my friends just being there for me and lending a listening ear helped me more than they could've imagined.

Soccer also became an excellent outlet for me where I could get my mind off of things. I continued to play competitive soccer for the Sparta United Soccer Club, and when I entered high school, I played for my high school’s soccer team as well. I've grown up playing goalkeeper, which my coaches nudged me into from an early age because I wasn't afraid of the ball, something that I could also attribute to getting beat up on by my brothers.

I had always dreamed of playing Division I soccer. However, I didn't know if that would be an option because there wasn’t a Division I team in Utah at the time. I was planning on serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and I didn’t know if I’d be permitted to defer playing for a Division I school. In my junior year of high school, UVU got Utah's first Division I soccer team, and during my senior year, I was offered a spot on the team. I accepted the offer, and they graciously allowed me to serve my mission and return without skipping a beat.

A few months later, I learned that I would be serving in the Netherlands Mission, speaking Dutch. I was overwhelmed with emotion because my father served his mission there as well. Before my dad passed, he had befriended a man from the Netherlands named Marco, who at the time had recently moved to the United States. Marco coached for a professional club in the Netherlands, and upon his move, he took on the role as the club director for Sparta United. He became instant friends with my dad. He coached my older brothers and later became my coach. We had him over for dinners and other events, and, in doing so, our friendship with him grew.

Before my dad passed away, he asked Marco to look after our family. Years later, just before I received my call to the Netherlands, my mom and Marco got married. He was of huge support to me when I received my call to the Netherlands. While there, I had many exceptional opportunities, and I even met someone that my dad taught on his mission.

Two days after returning home from my mission, I was back in the gym, training with the team. Getting back into competitive shape was difficult after not having played for two years. Becoming reaccustomed to the game and rigorous workout schedule was not my only challenge. I also needed to decide upon a major.

From the time I was a little kid, I knew that I wanted to work in healthcare. My mom was a nurse, and I remember her telling me fascinating stories. The experience with my father having cancer also made the medical field resonate with me. His doctors helped him so much, and I decided to give back to other families like mine.

For a while, I considered PA school and then moved onto medical school after deciding to major in exercise science. The pre-med classes that I was taking were challenging, and I didn't feel smart enough to enter medical school. Some of the other students in my classes seemed to be catching onto things faster than I. At the time, I was also redshirting for the soccer team, and I didn’t feel like I was playing well. Everything was piling up on me, and I thought about quitting soccer. I eventually realized that by quitting, I would be selling myself short. At that moment I decided that no matter what happened with soccer, I would stick with it and keep working hard.

The hard work that I put into soccer carried over to my academics. I resolved that if I had the slightest desire to become a doctor, I wouldn't let anything stand in my way, including myself. Even if I wasn't the smartest student in the class, I could work the hardest.

Athletics gave me a lot of cool extracurricular opportunities. One of my favorite things was tutoring student-athletes. Tutoring and other service opportunities helped me fulfill my pre-med requirements. The most rewarding has been regularly donating to the Huntsman Cancer Institute to honor our family motto, "Keep walking." I raised money and have been able to use that money to buy fun, colorful socks that I leave for cancer patients with a note attached reminding them to keep walking. I’ve been able to do this project for several years now in hopes that the small gesture will inspire them to keep walking, take one day at a time, and realize that they are never alone.

In my junior year, while playing soccer, I suffered a significant concussion. Someone kicked the ball from roughly six yards away, and I was knocked unconscious. On the way to the hospital, I worriedly told my athletic trainer that I was going to fail organic chemistry. My professors, especially my organic chemistry professor, worked with me to succeed in their courses. I couldn't have done it without them. Credit for my success is due to all of the dedicated professors that helped me learn and grow.

Thanks to UVU, I met my wife — who played on the women's soccer team. Many blessings and opportunities came out of my decision to attend UVU, work hard, and keep walking.