It was the spring of 2007; my grad­u­a­tion from High school was quickly approach­ing. The pres­sure was start­ing to set in; what was going to hap­pen next as I started my path in life? Would I get into col­lege? Either way I knew my life was about to change forever.

Dur­ing my last cou­ple years at high school I was try­ing to pic­ture myself study­ing music at a col­lege some­where. By my senior year I decided I really wanted that col­lege to be The Uni­ver­sity of Mon­tana. I also applied for a $500 schol­ar­ship called the Pee­wee Weber Schol­ar­ship from the Kiwa­nis Club in hopes of get­ting some extra cash for col­lege. I had to write an essay on why I felt I deserved the schol­ar­ship, and sub­mit an audi­tion record­ing of me singing; what I do best. Iron­i­cally enough the chair­man of the Kiwa­nis Club that was award­ing the schol­ar­ship was my neigh­bor across the street. So I put my enve­lope in his mail­box cross­ing my fin­gers that I would get it. They were going to be award­ing two $500 schol­ar­ship to one stu­dent from each high school. The schol­ar­ship was in mem­ory of the early chair­man of the Kiwa­nis Club, Pee­wee Weber. He was a fab­u­lous musi­cian him­self, and founded a schol­ar­ship for aspir­ing musi­cians that desired to study music in college.

A cou­ple months lat­ter I got my accep­tance pack­age from The Uni­ver­sity of Mon­tana in the mail! Get­ting accepted into col­lege was also one of my great­est achieve­ments. The secure feel­ing of know­ing I was going some­where and I was going to learn about what I love most, music. It was the hap­pi­est feel­ing of my whole high school career. Another cou­ple months lat­ter I got the call. I was work­ing one night when a gen­tle­man called me iden­ti­fy­ing him­self as a mem­ber of the Kiwa­nis Club. He told me that I was cho­sen for one of the schol­ar­ships!!! I expe­ri­enced a brief feel­ing of self-righteousness, that I was the best and the most tal­ented. Out of all the recip­i­ents that applied they chose me! I felt so sat­is­fied; some­one had rec­og­nized my musi­cal drive. All my hard work up to that point in music felt like it had defi­antly paid off. I was also invited to the award cer­e­mony at the Kiwa­nis Club to hand out the schol­ar­ships to me and the other recip­i­ent from the other high school. We had a short din­ner and then they called us up to the podium and awarded us the money. They wanted us to per­form for the club, but unfor­tu­nately I had laryn­gi­tis and had com­pletely lost my voice and was unable to sing at all.

Get­ting awarded that schol­ar­ship from the Kiwa­nis Club was one of my great­est achieve­ments in my life. The other recip­i­ent and I got our pic­ture taken with the chair­man, and there was an arti­cle about us in the Kiwa­nis Club’s monthly newslet­ter. I will never for­get that great feel­ing of accom­plish­ment that I got from receiv­ing an award like that, that I deserved. Some­how superced­ing all my piers, and com­ing out on top in the end. My great­est achievement.