The Water that Built Me by Orin

The Water that Built Me by Orin - January 2026 Scholarship Essay

Since I was five years old, the pool has felt like a second home. At first, swimming was simply something I loved to do. Feeling the rhythm of my strokes, the quiet under the surface, and the thrill of racing other kids, quickly became my happy place. But over the years, my relationship with the sport has grown far beyond the basics. It has become a way to test my limits, to understand myself on a deeper level, and to discover the strength I didn’t know I had.

As I got older, I found myself gravitating towards the steady, demanding grind of long-distance events. There was something powerful about holding pace, lap after lap, finding both discipline and freedom in endurance. Setting the goal of hitting the same pace number for every 50 yards became my internal challenge and motivation. Eventually, that love of distance swimming led me to something even bigger, open water racing. This past summer marked one of the biggest accomplishments of my swimming career so far. I took first place in the mile at state in long course meters, setting a new personal best time. It wasn’t just taking first that mattered, it was knowing that years of early mornings, late nights, hard practices, and pushing through plateaus had led to a breakthrough.

But the race that changed me the most wasn’t in a pool at all. It was a 10K open water swim at Wellington Lake, which is the highest open water race in the nation, with an elevation of over 8,000 feet above sea level. I had originally signed up for the 5K, but when I showed up, they allowed me to switch, if I wanted to. My mother was warning me against it since I have never done it before, wasn’t trained for it, didn’t get good nutrition, or proper sleep the night before. In that moment, I decided to do it. Little did I know that it was a decision that really wasn’t going to impact her but instead change the way I have seen myself for so many years. The course tested me in ways I’d never experienced before. The water was cold, the distance seemed endless, and the mental challenge was just as tough as the physical one. I never stopped once, as others did, I just kept going and going. About halfway through, my arms ached, and my breathing grew heavy. For the first time, I wondered if I could finish. The last lap is what did me in. I was starving and my body was craving food.

That was the moment I truly learned something new about myself. I discovered that resilience isn’t just about strength, it's about the quiet decision to keep going when everything in you wants to stop. I dug deeper, stroke after stroke, and crossed the finish line in first place. It wasn’t just about winning, it was about proving to myself that I could endure something I wasn’t sure I could finish. I have now competed in four open water races and placed first in all of them, but that 10K remains the most meaningful. That experience changed how I see challenges not just in swimming, but in life. It taught me that growth often happens in the moments when things feel hardest, when success isn’t guaranteed, and when quitting seems easier than continuing. Now, when I dive into the pool or into a lake, I carry that lesson with me. I know how to stay steady when things get tough. I know how to trust the work I’ve put in and I know that strength isn’t loud or dramatic, it’s simply not giving up. Swimming is still something I love, but it’s also the way I’ve learned who I am.

Swimming started as something simple and something fun, but over the years it has become the way I am. It’s taught me discipline, resilience, and the quiet confidence that comes from pushing past ones’ limits. Whether I am staring down a cold, endless lake, or standing on the edge of a diving block plunging into a pool, the water is where I find my happy place, myself, and where I grow. That same love for water is what drives my future, as I want to study marine biology, explore how to protect the oceans, rivers, and lakes that have shaped my life. Swimming has given me strength, but the water has given me purpose.