Receiving the NCAA Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarship opened a number of doors for me.

First, let me explain that when I flew into St. Louis for the final round of interviews for the scholarship, I was a senior at Saint Joseph's College (Indiana) and I was struggling with a difficult decision about law school. I was going to be the first individual from my family to earn a college degree. I am the daughter of a farmer, and I was born and raised in rural northwest Indiana. At a young age, my parents made it clear to me that education expenses were going to be my responsibility. Although my father could easily relate to the concept of taking out a loan in order to invest in the future by investing in land, he had serious reservations about a young person taking out large student loans for an education.

My parents were wonderfully supportive, and they encouraged me to try to earn a scholarship to pay the costs of education. I was fortunate that basketball and good grades paid for my undergraduate education while my parents made sure I had a car, spending money and plenty of support. As I considered my law school options, I was afraid to incur too many loans in my quest for a J.D.

Before the weekend that the Byers Scholarship was granted, I was leaning toward accepting admission to a state law school with in-state tuition. Because of the Byers Scholarship, though, I did not have to limit my choices. I knew that the scholarship funds made attending my first choice, the University of Notre Dame, feasible for me. What I did not know is how receiving that scholarship would shape my future.

Even at Notre Dame, the scholarship nurtured various opportunities. It was because of the Byers Scholarship listed on my law school application that a dean suggested I apply for another grant established for student-athletes seeking a postgraduate degree. I am sure that the Byers Scholarship helped me to secure that grant.

It is said that "success breeds success," and it continued to do so. The most significant of the opportunities was my appointment by Notre Dame to a committee that was then called the Board in Control of Athletics. I was the sole student representative on this prestigious panel. It was through this appointment that I was able to participate in the university's review and approval process on such matters including requests for fifth-year eligibility, review of team schedules and missed-class days by athletics teams and a variety of other matters. In addition to being a wonderful experience and providing me with a number of perks, my membership on this board gave me the opportunity to build relationships with members of the athletics department, the office of student affairs, the president's office and faculty members from various undergraduate departments.

Upon graduation from Notre Dame, I started a clerkship with the Honorable Frank E. Sullivan Jr. on the Indiana Supreme Court. After my clerkship, I joined a Washington, D.C., law firm. The scholarship was a conversation piece during the interviews for each of these positions.

I must admit that I still keep the honor on my resume. Today I am married to a former Notre Dame classmate, I have a 2-year-old son and I hold a very rewarding job as associate general counsel for GMP|Companies, Inc., a medical technology company in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The mission of our company is "Helping Medical Discoveries Help People. . . Worldwide." I joined this company more than three years ago. I enjoy the challenging work I do and the people with whom I work.

I will never forget that day in St. Louis in 1993, when, after meeting with the review committee, the committee chair announced to the group of candidates that I would be the female recipient of the Byers Scholarship. I remember standing there feeling so very grateful and so very blessed. At only 22 years of age, $20,000 seemed like all the money in the world, and I knew that I would be able to attend my first choice for law school because of that money. But I had no idea how the scholarship would affect my life far beyond the financial benefit.

In looking back, I am still quite grateful for the opportunities that have been afforded to me. I cannot deny that many of those opportunities were made available to me because of the NCAA's Walter Byers Scholarship.

Sheryl Christmas (formerly Sheryl Klemme) received an NCAA Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarship in 1993 for her athletics and academic achievements as a student-athlete at Saint Joseph's College (Indiana).