I am nominating my daughter, Caitlin. She is 13 and a competitive swimmer. Caitlin has amazing determination and passion. When she was 11, she went to her coach with the goal of winning state for her age. He gave her a practice schedule -- all summer she practiced most mornings and evenings. She accomplished her goal and was awarded the high point trophy at the Age Group Championships. Sadly, 3 months later, Caitlin fell and broke her arm. My husband and I watched as she endured surgery and physical therapy -- all the while going to meets to support her teammates. Caitlin, returned to practice after 6 months of rehab and met her goal of achieving national times to qualify for a Zone meet. She also represented the State of Oklahoma at the North American Indigenous Games in Denver as the youngest competitor and only Oklahoma swimmer. She won 4 silver medals. The Indigenous Games were a life changing experience. There were 8,000 Native American youth from across the U.S. and Canada. Caitlin came away from the experience with a desire to recruit more native swimmers. Once home, she researched health and social issues affecting native youth. She is starting an outreach program to address high rates of diabetes, drop out rates and suicide to youth, community and tribal leaders. Caitlin named her program, CAITLINB, which stands for Competitive American Indians Turning Lifestyles Into New Beginnings and has began partnerships with various organizations. In October, Caitlin broke her arm again. For many of us, this would have been too much to handle. However, Caitlin got through it and used the time out of the pool to work on setting up her program. She is now back swimming and having a great season. I am amazed by the passion that my daughter has for her sport and outreach program. I have watched her hold focus groups with peers and address adults on their responsibility to provide Native Youth with programs and facilities. Caitlin sees herself as a role model, but stresses to kids they need to be mentors, advocates and role models within their communities. Following a talk with Indian students at a boarding school, she wrote the director thanking him for allowing her to speak. She wrote" “Please tell your students thank you for meeting with me; I plan on changing the world; tell them that through helping me they are changing the world also.” I think this shows what Caitlin plans on accomplishing. Thank you.