Founders Day Scholarship Essay

Lights out, blinds drawn. Darkness. Silence. Another sleepless night. Or is it daytime? I can hardly

tell anymore. Somewhere between wakefulness and dreams, I lay in bed reflecting on the day everything

changed. A flash of light, the sound of footsteps sliding in cut grass. I am running. Back to darkness. I hear

distant yells; a crowd cheering. Back to silence. An elbow pierces my back, the ground rushes up to meet

me. Before I can reach it, a leg swings upward. Darkness. Silence.

My name is James Gessel. I am a normal boy, living a normal life with a wonderful, normal family.

I do well in school, ranking among the top 10 in my class. I am captain of the soccer team, I am actively

involved in community and church service, recently returning from a life-changing humanitarian trip to

India. I love to ski, wakeboard, and take pictures. Positivity and having a good attitude mean everything to

me. My life is perfect. I cant ask for anything more. What could go wrong? I am happy. So happy. This

was me, prior to March 14th, 2016. What I wasnt expecting was for life to get worse. Much, much worse.

I never really understood the phrase my life turned upside down until I was involved in an

accident resulting in a traumatic brain injury early on in the high school soccer season. From one day to the

next, everything I had going for me was all of a sudden lost. One day, I was playing soccer, wakeboarding,

and skiing, and the next, I could no longer be involved in physical activity. I could no longer attend school,

let alone continue with my difficult course schedule set towards graduation. I suffered memory loss,

headaches, and struggled with concentration issues. Rather than support me, my closest friends turned

away and abandoned me for unexplained reasons. My life fell apart in seemingly every aspect, and I was

left in a dark room to lay in silence. When I think of hardship and diversity, I often think of refugees fleeing

war, extreme poverty, or other extremes not likely to happen in the type of life I am privileged to live. A

moment came, however, when I realized that we all have our own hardships. And I was about to

experience mine.

Light is not usually associated with anguish, but post-concussion syndrome has many symptoms.

Symptoms such as light and noise sensitivity, loss of memory, and headaches rendered me unfit for almost
any activity, mental or physical. Darkness became my sanctuary, and silence my welcome friend. For

almost a month, I was required to lay in dark room devoid of anything that would use brainpower,

including light and noise. What hurt the most was NOT that I was unable to play soccer, nor was it any

level of pain I experienced, but it was the blow to my educational future. Not only was I worried about

getting into and paying for college, but I was now worried my brain was damaged so badly that my

learning ability would suffer. Learning is my greatest passion, and the fear that I may not be able to go on a

get a PhD in physics and be the theoretical astrophysicist I had always dreamed of being cut me deeply.

Truly, my only escape was reflecting on the joyful experiences and events of the year prior to the injury.

In contrast to my devastation, I have never been happier than I was in the months leading up to the

incident, and dont hesitate even for a moment in attributing my joy to the service I was involved in that

year. I was fortunate enough to be involved with a humanitarian group call YMAD. Working alongside 27

of my peers, I personally raised over $4,000, provided over 300 hours of community service, and best of

all, I built lasting relationships with the best friends I have ever had. I dont believe a more powerful tool

exists to bring people together than service. I am now driven by a deep-rooted passion to see not only the

community but the world changed through selfless service, ambition, and creativity, and I am self-

motivated to make a difference.

With help and support from a doctors, a loving family and a few understanding teachers, I was able

to graduate from high school, keep my GPA and stay on the path headed to college. Just over 4 months

later, I left the US and headed to Peru, where I would spend the next two years speaking Spanish and

serving the humble people of Peru. I was able to learn the language extremely quickly, adapt to, learn

about, and love the culture, and work extremely hard, despite the condition I was in just months before.

Though I still struggle with certain symptoms, I have a new sense of confidence knowing that I was

resilient in bouncing back from this life-changing experience. I couldnt feel more blessed to be able to

have healed well, to have learned so much not only about myself, but how I can overcome my hardships in

the future, and to be able to be active once again in school, recreation, and the community.