Jeremiyah Love

[Applause] foreign hello and good evening to all my name is Jeremiah D love and I'm a past recipient of a today and tomorrow Educational Foundation scholarship it is an honor and a privilege to be here tonight with such an esteemed group of people your financial support of today and tomorrow Educational Foundation has created a pathway to success for me and countless others believe this fact my journey is very unique and totally divine you see I am living proof of what your generosity can produce and believe me when I say my story is just getting started I want to take this opportunity to personally thank Archbishop rozansky and the entire ttef family for inviting me to the 14th annual Archbishop Gala I ask you do you to please applaud and show your appreciation for their work on this beautiful event [Applause] again thank you now let me advise you of what your gifts have produced for me and hold on to your seeds cause my journey this far is nothing less than God's hand at work in my life let's go back in time to Where it All Began birth I was born premature [Laughter] [Applause] birth I was born premature at eight months to be exact and my doctor advised my parents that I would have to stay in the hospital until I reach a Pacific weight you see I was born a fighter and not if I had medical knowledge at the time I beat the odds with the grace of God and I truly believe that I'm meant to be here destined to be here today speaking to you all [Applause] yeah now let's get to the origin of my academic Journey Most Holy Trinity Catholic school and Academy better known as MHT my mother seemingly stumbled across MHC but now I know that nothing is by accident again God was at work in my family's life especially mine you see my parents were unhappy with our public school and I was a time struggling academically I needed additional assistance in most of my academic subjects my attention span was lacking to put it mildly and I needed a lot of redirection foreign early on some teachers didn't think I would be able to handle an extended classroom setting thankfully my parents and my MHC teachers and counselors didn't give up on me from in-school tutoring to after school activities MSC made it happen the small classroom size and teaches the student ratio was significant for my development in the classroom in the ttel scholarship was the start of it all you see my parents are going through hard times the financial support offered to us and many other families through the today and tomorrow Educational Foundation afforded me the opportunity to reshape my education and my destiny my prince of what MHC was Mrs Jessica Kilmeade better known to us as Mrs k she loved and cared for all the MHT kids we were her babies Mrs K knew everything about everybody and she was the best and she invested her all into us vice principal Mr Nick McDowell Mr Nick was a teacher and a mentor for everyone at MHT his positive guidance and vigilance kept us on a straight and narrow path and guess what two of my best friends from Mac are also recipients of your generous support my best friend Dylan Van he's right there at 19. you see him right there [Applause] and my other best friend Chandler flowers early on in MHC both of these outstanding young men of course me to strive for excellence Dylan is currently my classmate at Christian Brothers College High School and Chandler excels at the academic rigors of St Louis University High School Dylan challenge me athletically which helped me create the price I am today but we'll get to that in a moment it was Chandler that forced me to strive for academic excellence I often think that without the scholarships in MHT I would never got to meet these two incredible young men let me share a personal story with you as I mentioned earlier I was a premium not only at Birth but academically as well I can vividly remember sitting at the kitchen table and my mom sang Jeremiah one plus one is two now tell me what is one plus one my response would be one plus one is four this tug of war would go on for minutes upon minutes repeatedly my family would modify their instructions while showing me their fingers never say again Jeremiah one plus one is two now what is one plus one as they held up one finger from each hand basically showing me the answer I will respond one plus one is five eventually their patients will wear out and they would need a break and I'll rejoice and I'll go run out to play outside here might have staying for applying myself academically will continue until the beginning of eighth grade I was more interested in sports in excelling in athletics beyond all my peers it wasn't until that faithful moment in class when I bragged about my athletic prowess and comparison with my best friend Chandler in the presence of the whole class president whole class Chandler stated you might be better than me in sports but you don't have better grades than me Chandler stood up in front of everybody and challenged me to reveal my grades and my test scores to the whole class [Laughter] I stuttered and almost immediately Chandler said if you don't have straight A's shut up totally ashamed I sank in my seat I was very embarrassed and that incident coupled with consistent instruction from my parents teachers Mrs K and Mr Nick forced me not only to strive for excellence athletically but now I have the motivation to surprise to surpass my friends academically please know that I strive for Straight A's ever since so let's fast forward to the present I stand before you today a senior at Christian Brothers College High School class of 2023 I'm a member of the National Honor Society with a cumulative GPA of 4.2 [Applause] I am the 2021 Missouri 6A 100 meter Champion I was unable to compete in 2022 due to an injury but God willing I would offend my title this year at this Missouri state championships I'm a two-time class 6A Missouri State football champion back to back and just to brag a little I was also the 2022 Max press play of the year I was first team in all conferences and I was a 2022 Gatorade player of the year for the state of Missouri [Applause] I am proud to say that I'm just like you I also love to give back I donated my 11 000 charitable award from Gatorade to the O'fallon Park Recreation Center a YMCA organization to benefit youth programs [Applause] I'm a 2023 Watkins award recipient for African-American athletic and academic scholar which I was honored and inducted into the club in Washington DC I volunteer in our community with different organizations from cleaning up neighborhoods and serving as an ambassador to incoming students at CBC [Applause] I've been blessed and honored to receive over 42 full ride college scholarship offers from schools such as Princeton Mizzou University of Southern Cal Alabama Georgia Stanford and a host of other notable schools but I chose to continue my studies in athletic interest this fall at the University of Notre Dame [Applause] and guess what folks Mrs K my Elementary principal at Most Holy Trinity is a native of South Bend Indiana we just reconnected and she advised me that she will be in the stands cheering for me as I help Notre Dame win the national championship within three years [Applause] yep I'm claiming that now folks this is no coincidence Mrs K and the relationship with ND that too is a part of the divine plan looking back I now know it was all in God's hands finally the Mac family which introduced me to the Catholic School pathway which led me onto the path to Christian Brothers High School and now to the University of Notre Dame hmm [Applause] and tonight I have yet another goal to thank you and to encourage you to keep supporting today and tomorrow thank you to everyone in attendance tonight listening to my story and learning about my struggles thank you for your financial Financial generosity I have done the hard work and taking advantage of the opportunities given to me but it was your generosity and commitment to ttef that made my Foundation strong my scholarship afforded me the opportunity and access to a better education a safe environment the best education in the country and has helped me to compete at the highest levels imaginable it was a today and tomorrow Educational Foundation that set the groundwork for who I am today and who I would become tomorrow I want to impress upon you that I do not take your financial gifts Lightly for much has been given to me I know much is required I want you to know the impact of your financial support just look at me I am your gift's work I would like to claim one more thing here tonight I know that someday I will sit in your seats I will return to this event not as a scholarship alumni but as a philanthropist I will get back to those in need and hopefully I will inspire many more to follow in my footsteps I hope my story has proven that your generosity is not in vain please continue to bless this foundation with your generous donations contributions and contributions for the sake of young boys and girls just like me who will shape tomorrow in closing I speak on behalf of every scholarship recipient of the today and tomorrow Educational Foundation by saying you give today so that we can give tomorrow now let's get those paddles moving [Applause] thank you and God bless thank you and God bless [Applause]