George Zeigler '21 Recruiting Profile

There are two main challenges which I have faced and have affected me. I was born in Las Vegas, NV where I split time living half with my Mother and half with my Dad and Stepmother. The summer before my sixth grade year, my Dad and Stepmother moved to Northern California, giving me a choice between moving with them to live full time or staying in Las Vegas with my Mother. It is difficult to choose between parents, but I made my choice to stay with my Mom in Las Vegas.  In the middle of that school year, it became clear to me it was best for me to move to California with my Dad. At the end of the sixth grade year, I moved in with warm arms with my Dad and Stepmom, but missed lifelong friends in Las Vegas. Soon after moving up, changing schools, and making new friends, my family received devastating news that my Dad was diagnosed with stage three cancer.  The next six months my Stepmother and I nursed my Dad through Chemotherapy, watching as he lost his hair, weight and energy.  It was difficult to watch my Dad, who was the strongest person I knew, become so sick with sunken eyes and a shadow of himself. His strength pushed him and he fought through the Chemotherapy and the cancer, grew back his strength, and our life once again was normal.   I didn’t realize that something so large and emotional can affect you long after it was over. 

I then had a drastic change in grades and behavior that my parents never saw before.  Especially in my sophomore year in high school, which was the worst year I had my whole school career. Paying attention was a skill that had somehow left me, and my parents and I watched as my grades deteriorated.  I had to make up almost my whole year, and I have done that through summer school and cyber high. Throughout summer school, I realized I needed to face my emotions about my Dad’s cancer and understand hiding from those feelings was not working.  It took two years of summer school and cyber high, but I finally got all my classes above a B.  During the summer going into my Junior year of high school, I realized I had learned how to face my emotions and began to change my mindset and looked at school in a different way. School was now a place to learn and intake the information given to me. As my Junior year came to an end, I realized that when I focused in class and did my best work I excelled. I learned through the two years I needed to make up those classes, that when faced with obstacles and adversity, you have to face it and work through it. I realized that there are emotions tied to working through obstacles in life, and coming to terms with those emotions with the support of your loved ones makes you stronger.