Fall 2026 Winner of the Youth Mentor Scholarship

India Kelly Smith

India Kelly Smith made a courageous decision to leave everything familiar behind and start fresh in a state where she knew no one, and that leap of faith became the turning point that is allowing her to grow into the person she had always wanted to be. Now pursuing degrees in both sports management and communications at the University of Delaware, she brings a bold, intentional spirit to everything she does. Congratulations, India, we are honored to support your journey!

Read Their Essay Here

A fresh start; this is one of the most transformative choices a person can make in their life. It is both an act of courage and an act of hope. An intentional step towards who you believe you can become rather than who you were forced to be. A fresh start creates space for growth, healing, and reinvention, but it also comes with uncertainty and moments of loneliness. My own decision to leave my hometown and move to Delaware, a state in which I had never been to, knew no one, and had zero knowledge of, became the clearest example of how starting over can save a person from a life that no longer fits them.

For most of high school, I felt stuck inside a version of myself that I did not recognize anymore. My town had a way of keeping people exactly where they had always been. The same habits, same mindset, and same expectations are placed on them year after year. I was surrounded by people who thought they already knew my whole story, who saw me through the lens of my past struggles and mishaps rather than the person I was fighting to become. Staying there felt like trying to breathe underwater. Every attempt to grow was met with resistance, judgment, and misunderstanding. Moving to Delaware was the moment the surface finally broke. Starting over meant stepping into a place where no one knew the “old me.” No one saw the scars of young high school me, the burnout, or the mistakes. Instead, people saw who I was right now, not who I had been forced to be. The freedom allowed me to rebuild with intention. I found friends who uplifted me, who supported my goals, and who made the idea of becoming healthier and happier feel possible. I developed routines that nurtured me instead of draining me, late night talks in the dorm rooms, early morning walks to class, study sessions that felt like progress rather than punishment. Slowly, I realized I was becoming the kind of person younger me desperately wanted to become.

But every fresh start has its drawbacks. There were nights when the silence felt heavy, when I missed the comfort of familiar roads or the ease of relationships that didn’t need explaining. Starting over means letting go of people, places, and versions of yourself that once felt like home, even if they were hurting you. It means navigating new friendships, new expectations, and new responsibilities. It also means facing your past without letting it dictate your present - a balancing act that can feel overwhelming when everything around you is unfamiliar. And yet, the benefits outweighed every moment of doubt. In Delaware, I learned that growth requires distance. You cannot become your next self in the same environment that created your last one. Starting fresh gave me a future I didn’t know I could have. It allowed me to choose healing, stability, ambition, and community. It gave me back my voice. A fresh start doesn’t erase who you were - it simply gives you the space to become who you were meant to be. In the end, leaving my hometown was not running away; it was running toward something better. Toward the life I deserved and the person I always hoped I could become.