Casey Cram
Marion, Iowa
PepsiCo Foundation ExCEL Award, 2009

In the summer of 2008, I was being a normal teenager: school, sports, work, and friends. I started to get letters from different colleges from all over the state, and one college caught my eye – the same one my older brother was attending and succeeding at. My parents told me to work extra hard that year so I could get some scholarships to help pay for my education, so I worked as hard as I could. In November, I hit a speed bump. I was told by doctors I had a lump on my thyroid and that it could be cancer.

In December I had a successful surgery to remove the lump, which was benign, and I went right back to work. At the end of the year, I had raised my GPA and earned academic awards and many scholarships. My surgery set my finances back a little more than planned, so I spent hours applying for even more scholarships. My older brother, a recipient of the PepsiCo Foundation ExCEL Award in 2007, told me about the award. Once I turned in my application, I knew that with this scholarship I would be able to make my dreams a reality. A month later, I received the letter with the news that I was chosen for the scholarship.

This scholarship showed me that hard work really pays off, and that in order for things to continue going up, you must work harder. Thanks to this hard work, I have successfully completed my first year of college, participated in volleyball, clubs, leadership programs, and even made the Dean's List. With the PepsiCo Foundation ExCEL Award that I received, I have been able to do many things in my life that I thought were never possible. Thanks to PepsiCo, I am able to create and achieve even more goals.

Return to Iowa Stories | Return to 2000s Stories | Tell Us Your Story