OKCPS Celebrates Graduate and C4K Recipient Brianna Bighorse
When you meet Brianna Bighorse, you can tell immediately how important she is to the Northwest Classen (NWC) community and her teammates on the softball team. C4K has been lucky to work with Brianna in several capacities throughout her high school career from recipient to volunteer. We have always noticed her quiet confidence and the way she leads her peers by example. If you were at last year's Help Kids Play Benefit you might remember hearing about how playing softball for NWC Athletic Director and Coach Cindy George completely changed her life.
As the story goes, Brianna was constantly in trouble for fighting during her years at Taft Middle School with a list of referrals 3 pages long. She was forced to change her behavior when she began high school and joined the softball team where she met Cindy George. Brianna says that Coach George saw potential in her and continuously reminded her that in order to play the sport she loved she needed to be a better student and teammate. Brianna stepped up to the challenge and quickly became a leader on the team and in the classroom.
After graduating in May 2018, Brianna entered the Marine Corps and recently completed an incredibly rigorous basic training program. The exercises and tasks she completed during the twelve week training are some of the most intense and demanding in the world and Brianna met this challenge like all others, with determination. As a result, she was named top of her class and chosen by her peers for the Molly Marine Award - a prestigious honor that celebrates leadership, teamwork, and other traits that make a successful Marine. The C4K staff recently attended a special assembly for NWC athletes where Brianna got to share her story as well as some amazing stories from her time at training.
Brianna was also interviewed by Jenni Carlson from the Oklahoman about the Power of Sports and how her participation helped her succeed. Read that interview HERE and hear more about the special ceremony HERE!
We love hearing about Brianna's story because it's the perfect example of how sports can absolutely change the course of a student's life. In fact, it's clear that the lessons that Brianna learned while playing sports in school have continued to help her after graduation. The entire staff and board at C4K would like to congratulate Brianna for all of her hard work.
