The winner of the Free Ride Scholarship will be announced on Monday, April 29, after a team of judges chooses a winner
The winner of the Free Ride Scholarship will be announced on Monday, April 29, after a team of judges chooses a winner
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The winner of the Free Ride Scholarship will be announced on Monday, April 29, after a team of judges chooses a winner
All this week, KOCO 5 is introducing you to the five finalists for the Free Ride Scholarship. The winner gets a new car and up to $25,000 for college.
Now, we introduce you to Lily Goolsby. When we first sat down with the home-schooled senior, she was overcome with emotion after thinking she hadn’t done a good job during her interview with the Free Ride judges.
“I’m usually like really hard… like feeling like I didn’t do good. I’m like, ‘Oh no,'” Goolsby said.
She teaches sewing and mends uniforms for law enforcement and military members. Goolsby is also a straight-A student and volunteer; but if you ask her her biggest role, it’s sister and helper.
“My life has been built upon struggles. Started out as a single-parent home,” Goolsby said. “My dad was really in and out the first few years that we lived in government-funded housing.”
Eventually, her mother got married and her husband adopted Goolsby. Then, her brother Connor was born.
“He was born with a lot of complex medical needs, and I could probably give you a tour of The Children’s Hospital,” Goolsby said.
She was moved from public school to homeschooling because of her brother’s medical needs.
“I wouldn’t change having my brother for anything because he brings me so much joy,” Goolsby said.
He has spina bifida and other complex medical needs. Not only is he Goolsby’s best friend but is also her life’s biggest motivator.
“Being blessed with my brother really opened my eyes to what I would like, who I want to help,” she said.
Weeks after that emotional first interview, KOCO 5 surprised Goolsby at her home-school co-op.
“I’m like shaking right now. I’m so nervous,” Goolsby said during the surprise.
Once in the Free Ride car’s driver’s seat, Goolsby’s first thought wasn’t for herself.
“Oh my goodness. There’s so much room in the back seat. I could probably fit my brother’s wheelchair in here, too,” she said.
And then, of course, there was someone Goolsby had to tell that she was a Free Ride finalist.
“Conner. Guess what! I got a really big scholarship opportunity,” she told him.
Depending on scholarships, Goolsby hopes to go to the University of Central Oklahoma and eventually become an occupational therapist.
“I’ve been really thinking about finances lately and what to do,” she said. “So, this scholarship would really change my life.”
Along with making a living by sewing uniforms for first responders and military members, Goolsby also teaches sewing at her home-school co-op.
“Being home-schooled, there’s not as many opportunities as being in a typical high school or so my mom put me,” she said. “Well, I started home-schooling in middle school, but she put me in a sewing class.”
If Goolsby could give advice to a young girl in government housing or a single-parent household, she said she told them, “to just keep going. This is really random, but I applied for a leadership scholarship and I just found out I didn’t get it. And my mom goes, ‘When God closes one door, He opens another one.'”
Goolsby hopes the Free Ride Scholarship is that door opening for her.
The winner of the Free Ride Scholarship will be announced on Monday, April 29, after a team of judges chooses a winner.
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