Last weekend, I went to my hometown to watch my high school’s football team play for sections. This was and is a big deal because we have been on a pretty strong losing streak for a while now. I only remember our boys of fall winning two games my senior year. My high school friends and I were ecstatic that they had made it this far and could not believe it.

We were even more shocked at the 21-0 score in the first quarter—and we were winning! I am sure the average reader who isn’t from my hometown community doesn't care about my high school football team winning sections and going state bound but I know most of you know what it is like to be an alum at a high school event. It is odd—at first.

However, last weekend I was so proud to be an alum at that game! My friend and I kept asking one another, “are we in an alternate universe right now?” and “where are we right now?”. We were just so shocked at how bad ass our high school football team had gotten just being almost three years out of high school. It made me miss high school!

I don’t know about you, but I had a pretty great high school experience. We totally rocked it our senior year. That is why my friends and I like to go back for games and big events. We enjoyed ourselves when we were there and we go back and enjoy ourselves and the small community we grew up in.

After we won the game last weekend, we had a Welcome party for the football team in the high school gym. It was so full of energy and excitement. You could see the happiness and proudness on everyone’s faces, especially the mothers who had cried tears of joy. I was so glad to have taken off work to be back in my loving community. We kicked butt, not only as a football team, but as a community.

A loving and supportive community is all we need growing up, it is something everyone needs to be successful. If you have that growing up, you will have that encouragement to be who you truly want to and can be. You are connected as a community but also growing as an individual. It is the reason why I am going to college to further my education and the reason why I am pursuing my dream of practicing law to change the lives of our American community. My hometown community inspired me to do great things.

That is why I go back; I get support and love from my community members! I am so blessed and grateful for that. I know that other classmates and friends of mine who grew up in my community feel the same way!

I want to end with a huge THANK YOU to my small community for having a very positive influence on me and on all the other young people in our community.