This month's Monthly Spark shines on an 8th grader at Brookland Middle School who found his passion for baseball through nothing more than determination and the encouraging words of his grandfather. With no family background in the sport, he stepped up to the plate — literally — and never looked back, taking the field as a shortstop, pitcher, and center fielder. Baseball, he says, is a humbling sport, one that has taught him patience, strong values, and life lessons that extend far beyond the diamond. He has come to understand that there is always someone better, and that truth pushes him to keep growing. His ambition doesn't stop at the baseline — he plans to continue playing in high school while pursuing automotive technology through the ACE Center and enrolling in the Allied Health Service program in 9th grade. A multi-sport athlete with a multi-faceted future, he is proof that sometimes all it takes is one person's encouragement to set a young person on an extraordinary path.