Ian Kolbus, Bishop Chatard High School – Purdue University
| We are pleased to introduce our 2024 Erika Wells Memorial Scholarship winners, who each received a $1000 scholarship towards their college education. Please enjoy reading their personal essays, in which they discuss how running has made a positive impact on their lives. Erika Wells was a beloved member of the Indy Runners who tragically passed away in October 2016. Her dedication to service, personal growth, social engagement, and an overall use of running as part of a healthy lifestyle and a way to help support the community were unparalleled. We believe these winners each exemplify these characteristics as well. We are thankful that these young people were willing to share their unique stories of how running has influenced their lives. We hope that they will continue to make running a cornerstone of their life. |
“Ever since I was in second grade at Christ the King, I was a runner. I showed up to every practice, and had a natural talent for the sport. I placed at every meet I was in, and only experienced the joys of the sport and never the pain of missing a PR. However, in 5th grade, I lost the love for it due to lack of success and quit in pursuit of other sports. I tried to fill the absence of running with football, basketball, and golf, but nothing ever gave me the same satisfaction as running. The summer of my 7th grade year, I came back to running, but this time for the people who I was running with. I could run the fastest 3k time, but if I was not actively enjoying the people I was with, what’s the point? That season was the most fun I had ever had running. Me and two other boys pushed ourselves every day, running countless extra miles and having the most hilarious conversations about quite possibly anything. With this new found joy, I also found success in the following two years, culminating with a top 15 finish at the Middle School State XC Championship Meet. This mindset continued on with me in high school as I joined the Bishop Chatard Cross Country team and found my place. Immediately I found a guy, Davis, on the team who was my same pace and we pushed each other every day. When one of us would feel like stopping, the other would push them as hard as they could, finishing a run with as little stops as possible. Running allowed me to find my new “family,” as me and 5 others nicknamed ourselves the “Going, Going, Goners,” spending every single weekend making pasta in each other’s kitchens, going to Target after workouts, and McDonald dinners after meets. Every 5:30 AM wake up for practice was with excitement to go out and push myself as hard as I possibly could with people who legitimately cared about my well being rather than how fast I could run a 5K. The following season, my running buddy Davis and I worked together day in and day out, pushing ourselves to the brink of exhaustion, but it all paid off with a trip to the IHSAA Track Championships, and making it back the following season placing 13th in the 4×800 relay. Without the people I formed relationships with, running would have a completely different meaning to me, but the support group running gives me has allowed me to discover who I am. I know I am never going through something alone because I know the people around me will suffer through a 10 mile long run on Pennsylvania and 86th just so we can look at houses or run in Oxbow to look at a river. Running has helped make me who I am today, and I wouldn’t change that for anything.”
