On a Tear by Adelaide

On a Tear by Adelaide - January 2026 Scholarship Essay

On December 11, 2023, my life changed forever. I was at swim practice at my local high school. We were doing box jumps, and my box was not stable. I jumped up on the box, it wobbled, and I fell off. As soon as I landed, I felt a terrible pain in my knee. The pain mostly subsided after a few minutes, and I was able to complete the rest of my swim practice. However, on the ride home from practice, I tried to convince myself that my knee was fine, but it had already started swelling. A few weeks, an MRI, and several doctor’s appointments later, I found out that I had torn my ACL and meniscus.
I had surgery on January 16, 2024. The first couple months of recovery were very painful. I spent several hours every day doing my physical therapy exercises. This made it difficult to get all of my schoolwork done on time. I was also volunteering as a manager for my track team since I could not run that season. There were multiple days when I was not sure how I could possibly get all of my homework done on time. Even though I did turn in a few assignments late, I surprised myself with how much I was able to accomplish. I worked extremely hard and I managed to maintain my 4.0 GPA.
This period of my life taught me several lessons. I learned that I am a lot stronger and more capable than I think that I am. For example, at one point I was not even able to lift my leg. Less than eight months later I ran my fastest season opener ever in cross country. I also passed my return-to-sport test in record time. It takes most people about nine months from their surgery to pass that test. It took me exactly six months and one week. I also realized that I can spend several hours a day working on my knee and still maintain my grades. The most important thing that my injury taught me was to never make excuses or not do your work. I would hear some of my friends who were running track complain that they did not want to race, and that made me upset. They had the ability to do this great thing that I really wanted to do but could not, and they were complaining about it! I decided that I would always remember that feeling so that whenever I felt like not racing, doing a workout, doing my homework, or just doing something hard, I could draw on that frustration and motivation.
I believe that all of the lessons I learned will help me immensely as I prepare for and begin college. Learning how to balance your schoolwork and other activities is one of the most challenging things to figure out when you begin college. I know that my experience completing my physical therapy, helping to manage a track team, and balancing my education has trained me well for the rigors of a college schedule. Knowing that I am capable of so much reassures me that I will thrive in a higher learning environment.
Attending college will help me build my life and show that I can succeed, no matter what obstacles I have to overcome. Overcoming my injury while still being able to thrive in school makes me confident of this. I would like to continue my athletic career in college, most likely as a swimmer, while also earning a business degree and possibly an advanced degree or a law degree. I know that this will not be easy, but I am determined that I can do it. While my injury made me physically weaker for a little while, it has made me mentally and even physically stronger for the rest of my life.