A Carmel teen wants to spread positivity, including by pursuing her career goal of becoming a theme park engineer, to help make others happy.
She also wants to honor the legacy of her father by emulating the way he lived.
Ainsley Strothkamp, a Carmel High School graduate, lost her father unexpectedly on Dec. 21, 2022. The Strothkamps had a few days earlier returned home from a soccer tournament in Orlando, Fla. Mark Strothkamp, who had coached his daughter’s teams for many years, suffered a stroke. He spent six days on life support before doctors said he would not regain consciousness. He died at age 51.
Unbeknownst to his family (Ainsley; his wife, Margaret “Meg;” and son, Braedy), Mark Strothkamp was an organ donor. That selfless decision will help his daughter pursue her dreams and desire to spread joy.
“My father lived his life to the fullest, and even without trying he continually spread positivity,” said Ainsley Strothkamp, the recipient of an $8,000 scholarship from the Indiana Donor Network Foundation. That award will help her study engineering at Purdue University beginning this fall.
“I have always tried to speak positively, but now I am more aware of how words can affect a person,” she said. “Whenever I make someone happy, I know my dad is still with me, helping spread positivity.”
The Indiana Donor Network Foundation awarded four other scholarships to Indiana students, including Erica Freeman-Swaim, a Noblesville High School graduate who is studying occupational therapy and hippotherapy at Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion. Freeman-Swaim received a $2,000 scholarship.
Ainsley Strothkamp said she applied for the scholarship because she wanted to share how much her father cared about his family, friends and soccer players. Mark Strothkamp worked for the NCAA in Indianapolis and the Hoosier Futbol Club in Noblesville, coaching high-level youth soccer teams. In May, the club opened Mark Strothkamp Memorial Field in his honor.
Ainsley Strothkamp said learning that her father was an organ donor felt like the last step before losing him. His decision also lifted some of the family’s burden after his passing, she said.
She urges others to make the same decision.
“I would tell them to look up stories of people who have received organs from donors and how they felt,” she said. “Becoming an organ donor allows your life to live on through others.”
Learn more about organ donation at indianadonornetwork.org.
