Hello, my name is James Barnett. My parents always told me the better you do in school, the better your future would be. Listening to their words, I have always worked hard at getting good grades to continue my education and go to college. I will be a sophomore at Rowan University and am majoring in Health and Physical Education with a minor in Special Education. I love working with kids that have special needs. I did it everyday at high school and with my cousin Vinny, who has Down Syndrome; he is my absolute best friend. My goal is to be a Special Education Teacher and also be a football or wrestling coach.

It is truly amazing how my father is still alive. In February 2015, my Dad was fixing a gas main near a house when the house filled up with gas, and something sparked the gas and the house blew up. He was standing 20 feet away and the debris of the house went everywhere and smacked my dad unconscious. While being flown to Atlantic City Medical Center, he actually died twice. He wouldn’t be alive today if it weren’t for the awesome EMT’s that revived him. He was in a coma for some time. My Dad has 157 pieces of hardware in his face after a 6 hours surgery. He had a stroke from the blast, and he’s deaf in one ear and half deaf in the other. He has major eye damage and lost his smell and taste. He has reoccurring headaches, backaches and very bad balance problems. I would say it was a bad accident.

This tragic accident affected my family really badly. My dad was the only one who worked in the family. He worked every day and busted his butt, not because he wanted to, but because he had to. He worked overtime to make the extra money. but since the accident he can’t even drive. Everyone in my family was devastated by what had happen on that day and we will remember it for the rest of our lives. But it also devastated our family financially. It changed the type of person I am because you never know when it’s going to be the last time you see someone.

I would like to thank Comp-X Medical Management & KCNJ for awarding me this scholarship and giving me a chance. If you’re ever given a chance in life you should always take it and show how good you can do. With this scholarship I can show you how good I can do and prove to my family what kind of a brain I have. This scholarship will put me that much closer to my goals. Thank you again for helping me reach my goals.