 Growing up, I would say, I was exposed to a lot more than a young person should be, but those experiences have helped me get to where I am today. I'm the first person in my family going to college. I'm the youngest. I have six older brothers, so being here is a big deal for everyone. I just make it my duty to do well here and to make them proud and to make myself proud. This is the best thing that's ever happened to me, being able to go to Marquette and to be an Evan Scholar. Words can't describe how thankful I am and how glad I am to be here. When I got my scholarship, everyone cried. I finally got that piece of mail and they said, I'm pleased to inform you that you are now an Evan Scholar to Marquette University. That was just like the greatest moment of my life. I just cried tears of joy and I was just really excited and thankful. All my hard work for three summers catting on the golf course paid off. I chose Marquette because I'm a fan of the Jesuit education system here and focusing on the individual in and outside of the classroom. And they're also very big on service here, which is a big part of my life. Being an Evan Scholar here has changed my life completely. I would definitely say it's made my college experience ten times better. Here I'm in this house with 60 other people. It's Co-Ed Living. It's 30 girls, 30 boys. Everyone is like a family here. The group unity here is great. And it's nice because you do get to meet people from different backgrounds and you do have so many personalities. So to just learn from them and to interact with them is fun. It's cool. It's interesting. To my scholarship donors, first and foremost, thank you. You've changed my life and the lives of caddies completely. Thank you for investing in this program and investing in our future and believing in us and seeing something in us to give us this wonderful opportunity. Without this, I wouldn't be going to college. If someone were to ask me a few years ago, do you think you would be going to Marquette? On a full right scholarship, I'd tell them no way. And here I am. We have a saying here, to whom much is given, much is expected. So much has been given to me and it's my obligation to give back and to do well and I will do that. So I keep that in mind every day. A Marquette education is life-changing because you're immersed in the Milwaukee community right in the heart of the city. You understand that you're really part of something bigger. I think it's fair to say that the Burke Scholarship has really changed me over the course of my time here at Marquette. Aside from the education that I've been fortunate enough to receive, it's the intangibles that I've experienced and gained through some of the involvement that we do through the scholarship that have really changed who I am as a person. I feel good about the person I've become. I think I'm a much more well-rounded person. I think I have a better understanding of the world than society around me. Marquette offers a co-op program for their engineering students. It's an opportunity where every other term you get to work full-time at a local company. So I work here at Strat Tech. I'm currently on a work term. And what this opportunity allows and the fact that Marquette's Engineering School offers this to its students is we have the ability to really apply the theory that we learn in class with firsthand work experience. Similarly, what I've learned here at Strat Tech has really improved my ability to learn on campus. Having that hands-on experience, I'm a lot more in tune to what we're learning. In the future, I hope to be running my own manufacturing facility or something else in the manufacturing industry. As the Senator for the College of Engineering in Marquette's student government and being involved with that has been something that's really interesting. It kind of shows you how important actually staying engaged with your surroundings is. Knowing that there's people who gave money for me to go to Marquette and people who gave money for the Burke Scholarship, I'm definitely even more driven both in my academic studies as well as being involved in the community. It kind of has that conscious effect of knowing that there's someone rooting for me and someone helping to see Marquette really improve someone's life. My parents have always instilled in me the importance of education. Something that my mom has always said to me is that when they pass away, they're not going to leave me an inheritance. The only thing that they've ever been able to leave me is my education because they think that that's the most important thing. And so they've always worked hard to put me through school. And I don't take that for granted at all. In all honesty, I'm the product of the American Dream. You know, they came to this country and they worked so hard to provide for their children, and I'm continuing on in that dream of theirs. Giving scholarship aid is kind of like giving an apple. You give an apple and that's the scholarship. You just think it's an apple, but you forget about how many seeds an apple has. You know, you throw the core away and it can grow into another tree with more apples. So scholarship aid never stops there. I have said this a million times, but I don't think I could have ever had two better role models growing up. They have sacrificed time and time and again for my siblings and myself. As a high school student, I talked to my parents and I told them, Marquette is my dream and you have worked so hard to put me through all my schooling that I don't want to put another burden on you. And so I told my parents, I'm going to go to Marquette. I don't know how, but I'm going to make it to Marquette. And you're not going to sign any loans. I'm going to do it on my own if I have to take out a loan. I will do so, but you will never sign any of that because you've already done more than enough. I would tell my scholarship donors that I don't think I'll ever be able to find the right words to thank them and to tell them how much of an impact they've made on my life. You know, I've tried to do as much as I can with it and I am so grateful that they were the ones that opened the door to me to be able to enjoy my experience, to do everything that I do on campus and to be as involved as I am. I wouldn't have seen the world without them. I mean, I've studied abroad a couple of times with Marquette and I've had the opportunity to just expand my horizons and just learn so much. You know, Marquette was always my dream and they made that happen. They made that a reality.