Acceptance Is: Part of a Positive Outlook

“I pledge acceptance of myself. I pledge to celebrate my perfect imperfection.”

These two lines from the Acceptance Pledge deeply resonate with Zachary Hughes.

“It’s about having a mindset of gratitude and growth,” he said. “Instead of the exposure of my imperfections and the realization of my shortcomings being the worst things that can happen to me, they are opportunities to grow.”

A positive outlook was essential for Zachary, the national winner of the 2015 Heisman High School Scholarship. Despite an asthma condition, Zachary thrived as a student-athlete at Westminster Christian Academy near St. Louis, Missouri.

He was the senior captain of his football team, sophomore captain of his track and field team, and won varsity letters in three different sports – all while maintaining excellent grades. Zachary was a National Honor Society member, National Merit Scholar Finalist, and College Board AP Scholar. He graduated from Furman University, where he also played wide receiver.

“Logistically, my life was practice, dinner, homework until 11:00 p.m., sleep, rinse, repeat,” he said. “It involved a lot of discipline and routine. But what drove me as much as anything was enthusiasm.”

In one of Zachary’s favorite books, Born a Crime, author Trevor Noah paints a vivid picture of optimism during Apartheid:

“There was maybe one car for every thousand people, yet almost everyone had a driveway. It was almost like building the driveway was a way of willing the car to happen.”

It’s the kind of hope that Zachary still aspires to realize as a newlywed husband and leadership consultant.

“You can’t achieve anything you can’t imagine first,” he remarked. “For me, the Heisman High School Scholarship served as my figurative driveway. It built the driveway so I could imagine a future of living significantly. It opened a door into a community and a future I couldn’t have imagined otherwise.”