HSBN Scholarship Essay Entry: Aaron Miranda

Aaron was hitting .387 when his season was cut short.

Aaron Miranda, #9, from the Fort Lauderdale Flying L’s, is a catcher/utility players that graduates with the class of 2020. Aaron was hitting .387 when his season was cut short. He gave us some insight into what the past few months have meant to him.

Essay:

Life is always going to throw a person a curve ball at an unexpected time; some handle it like clay and get squished, while others remain like a rock and deflect it. How one handles it depends upon his mental strength: his endurance to succeed and his desire to excel.

Presently, this is a challenging time in my life. My head and my heart are in a constant battle. In my head, I understand why there’s no baseball, and I have no choice but to accept it. In this instance, I am a rock. It is what is best for society to recover from COVID-19.

Unfortunately, my heart is broken because I can’t play or even watch baseball. This crushes me like Play-Doh.
This virus has forbidden most seniors to ever play high school baseball again, in addition to the cancellations of our school’s senior activities such as prom, grad bash, and graduation, which will be virtual.

It is depressing to talk about and is all slowly disappearing before our own eyes.

Being home for the past month and half in quarantine has allowed me to live without baseball, without teammates, without coaches, and without the friends who come to support our love of the game. So many opportunities for memories no longer exist.

As a team, we finally formed a bond, and were on a roll with a three-game win streak. As for the seniors, we grew as a big bunch and were excited for our senior year. We spent years discussing the fun and excitement that would take place during our senior year.

Throughout high school, our team lost players to transfers and excuses, which gave us more fuel for our fire. Day in and day out, we were hungry and motivated to make a statement for not only the program, but ourselves.

This statement year was going to be our year to let everyone know that whatever struggle there is, there shall be NO excuses! Luckily, we were able to play a partial amount of the season, ten games.

Our seniors are ready to succeed whether baseball is a part of someone’s life plan or not. Many of us will attend the top colleges in the state of Florida to further our education; however, my baseball journey will continue at a JUCO in Solon, Ohio.

With the 2020 high school baseball season barely occurring, it allowed me to physically and mentally prepare for summer ball and college. I’ve been able to spend more time with my family, and explore other interests.

It is not easy being home all the time since I am extremely active and love the outdoors. I have learned how to cook a bit since being home, though, and look forward to acquiring more kitchen skills.

Sometimes, life will throw out a perfect pitch, and in order to appreciate that, I always swing for the fence. The home runs are that much sweeter because I respect the strikeouts.

Each base must not be taken for granted, for they bring me one step closer to home; a place where I can rest my head and dream about what the end of my senior year would have looked like.

Editors Note: Seniors wanting to enter the competition, follow the link below:

HSBN Senior Essay Scholarship Competition

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