Our Collective Stories

"Without this program and the people involved in helping me achieve growth, I would have been at home, sitting on my couch, afraid to get up and try." - Victoria Gill

The day that Ali Akhtar was supposed to take the MCAT, he decided he didn't really want to be a doctor. He just thought he was supposed to. He wanted to help people, but differently, so he started down the road to be a therapist.

When Barbara first discovered the Starting Line Scholarship, running was not yet part of her life. She had been walking daily for about two and a half years and noticed the impact movement had on her mental health, helping manage anxiety, depression, Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), and grief. But when the idea of adding running came up, she was not sure how to begin.  “I had never run and didn’t know where to start,” she shared. “I happened across the Starting Line Scholar