HSBN Scholarship Essay Entry: Jacob Lojewski

Jacob Lojewski, #5, from American Heritage-Delray, is a shortstop that graduates with the class of 2020. Jacob is a former All-HSBN award winner, and was hitting .290 when his season was cut short. He gave us some insight into what the past few months have meant to him.

Essay:

My name is Jacob Lojewski and I am a four-year starter at American Heritage Delray. I have been playing baseball since I was four years old. I have never been away from a baseball field for this long in my life.

There has never been anything in my life that has had this much of an effect on me playing. This is new to me, as it is new to everyone else, but we have to adapt and make the best out of it.

This pandemic that we are all going through has changed so many things in life for all of us. You walk out in public and see everyone wearing masks. You see markings on the ground of how far away you have to be from each other. You see long lines outside of stores because only a certain number of people are allowed in.

On the positive side, you see families spending time with each other, having family dinners, playing games, and even outside in their yards enjoying the outdoors together. Life has slowed down. It is a crazy time, something you would think only would happen in a movie.

On March 13, 2020 I played what could have been my last high school baseball game. Now although it was crushing, there is nothing anyone can do to change it. Adversity is something everyone faces in life, it is inevitable, but what you choose to do with it is up to you. You can let it shut you down, or you can use it as fuel to re-fire.

I know, that I am not going to sit and dwell on the situation. I am going to use this extra time on my hands to make myself better. I cannot do anything to stop what is happening, I just have to accept it, move forward, and hope for the best.

First and foremost, my family and I are healthy. We have been very blessed to not have been affected by the virus. Secondly, our high school baseball team was the team to beat! If you think about it, we were ranked number 1 in the state, number 6 in the nation, and we finished 11-0. That is a perfect season!

We went into what may have been our last game against Calvary and played it like it was our last game. It was a State Championship atmosphere! It was the most fun our team had during a baseball game. We won that game 2-0. The way I look at is, We are the Champions. There’s nothing to complain about, and I wouldn’t change anything.

Instead of focusing on what happened, I have been focusing on getting better. It is easy to get caught up in all of this stuff we see on the news, the sadness, all of the new rules and regulations. So, I stay away from the television news.

It’s a crazy time we are all in, but as baseball players we cannot let this virus stop us from working hard.
My longtime batting coach and trainer for many years and some of my teammates are fortunate enough to be able to stay sharp through this break, having access to a batting cage, pitching machines, and space big enough for us to take IO.

The gyms are closed; however, I am fortunate enough to have the right equipment needed to continue to get faster and stronger on my own at home.

This virus is a minor setback for a major comeback for all of us. I still have hope to get back on the field to play another High School baseball game. If by chance that does not happen, I thank Coach Carm, Coach Murray, Coach Schmidty, and Coach Manny. This is not the end for me, it is only the beginning.

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

HSBN Senior Essay Scholarship Competition

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