As a child, I was inspired by the example of a number of holy priests who served at my home parish and I aspired to be like them. The religious sisters who worked at my parish school encouraged me to continue to pursue what I felt early on was a call to the priesthood. Throughout high school, I was further encouraged in my vocation by my parish's youth minister and the friends that I made through the youth ministry program, so I applied and entered seminary right out of high school.