2016 Georgia Future Champions Scholarship Winner

Posted: 05.01.16

CATEGORY: In our Community

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We are excited to announce the winner of the first annual Georgia Future Champions Scholarship Winner Jelani Miller. Jelani’ s passion for becoming a Georgia state champion was immediately apparent. This video depicts Jelani’s journey as a high school varsity wrestler, both his successes and failures, and how he has overcome challenges to continue towards achieving his ultimate goal. Join us in congratulating Jelani Miller! We are proud to help a young member of the Georgia community to continue his dreams of pursuing an education and ultimately establishing his own successful business.

Scholarship Application Essay

My journey as a Marietta Wrestler has proven to be one of the most eye-opening experiences in my life. It’s the only sport, or activity in general, that’s taught me such an abundance of information not only critical to life, but about myself as well.

Growing up, I participated in several sports; football, basketball, skateboarding and so on. At the time I hadn’t quite realized it, but I wasn’t passionate about any of those sports at all. In fact, I believe that’s what ultimately hindered my performance and prevented me from standing out as a valuable athlete for the teams I competed for. It wasn’t until middle school that I knew I needed to search for something different, a new challenge. What I didn’t know however, was that the challenge I so desired would present itself to me.

In 7th grade, I was introduced to the sport of wrestling by my friends who’d also decided to try it for the first time. Due to my hesitation, I actually began weeks after official practices initiated. However, it didn’t take long for the coaches to recognize I had a raw talent for the sport. I’ll never forget the moment my coach pulled me aside after I’d won my first few matches and told me, “If you stick with this sport you will, without a doubt, wrestle varsity in high school”. While I had my doubts at the time, it was definitely an amazing feeling to know someone believed in my success as an athlete. That single moment in my middle school career persuaded me to pursue wrestling in high school.

I came into high school with the words of my past coach in mind. As a freshman starting off at JV, I placed second in my first tournament. I knew if I wanted to prove myself worthy of the varsity position, I would have to work harder to improve my technique. I knew that if I were allow myself to be content with second place at a JV level, I’d face a similar fate I faced with the previous sports I attempted. That being said, I studied the sport outside of practice, and pushed myself during practice. Half way through the season, I was able to beat our varsity wrestler at my weight class, thus seizing the position for myself. Now it was time to make my coach proud.

My first experience on the marietta varsity team resulted in a series of heart defeats. Rather than sulking in my losses, I assessed the situation and discovered what I needed to correct in order to be successful. As a result, I managed to be qualify and compete at the state tournament my sophomore year. I fell one match short of qualifying my Junior year due to an ongoing injury, however this year as a senior, I aim to show that I’m undoubtedly ready to compete. As of now, I’ve had one of the best seasons of my entire career and the lessons I’ve learned throughout the way have dramatically contributed to that. With the instruction of my coach, I’ve learned several important values of life. For instance, the need set higher goals for yourself as well as the need to push yourself in order to truly achieve that goal. In addition, it’s provided me with an overall sense of discipline as well as confidence in my abilities despite any doubt others may have. Even outside of wrestling, I find myself challenging myself to achieve greater things and despite the result being success or failure, I couldn’t be happier with the lifestyle I’ve adopted.

The-Champion-Firm-Scholarship-Winner-Jelani-Miller

With the conclusion of my wrestling career quickly approaching, I realized it’s time to begin drawing greater focus on my future aspirations. Having already began an up and coming clothing line with my close friend, I’ve decided I’ve wanted to pursue an education and career in business, beginning with Kennesaw State University’s Coles College of Business. Wrestling has allowed me to remain confident in the believing I can achieve this goal. Whenever I have the slightest sense of doubt, I always think, “Once you’ve wrestled, everything else in life is easy”, a quote from my all-time favorite wrestler, Dan Gable. With the help of the The Champion Firm, Personal Injury Attorneys, P.C., Georgia Future Champions Scholarship, I will be able to pursue my education with further additional assistance in tuition. In addition, it would put me in a far greater position to take all I’ve learned from wrestling in my journey to become a state champion and apply it to becoming a champion business owner.

Thank you to all of our applicants. Please check back next year to apply again for The Champion Firm, Personal Injury Attorneys, P.C. – Georgia Future Champions Scholarship.