My Story

It's kinda funny to be writing out my "story" because there are so many things that I want to include here, but I guess I will just stick to the major stuff.  I already covered a lot about myself in my first post, so lets go waaaaay back. 

I was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio so I've known nothing but Ohio State from the beginning.  I grew up in Dublin and I love everything about that town. I have an older brother, Alex, who is finishing up classes at OU and planning on going into IT.  I absolutely adore my brother and appreciate that we have always been able to get along, I'm sure our parents appreciate it as well. I am very lucky to have parents who loved to travel so I was able to explore the world at a young age.  We went to France for a few weeks, a Mediterranean cruise which included Spain, Italy, and France.  We also took a few Caribbean cruises and trips to Cancun and Cabo.  We were very fortunate to have these experiences, the only down side is that I was so young I hardly remember most of them!

One of the biggest decisions I made at a young age was to join the cheerleading team at my middle school.  I don't really know why I wanted to do it, I just wanted something to do and was absolutely terrible at first.  The coaches I had in middle school gave me the foundation that I built my skills on and ultimately changed my life.  Cheerleading quickly became a passion and something that I could do well so I continued the journey through high school. I cheered for football and basketball, and I joined the competitive cheerleading team at my school. Competition cheerleading taught me a lot about being on a team and I had a blast doing it. All of my friends were on the competition team until my senior year. I had a tough decision to make. All of the seniors, and my friends, decided to quit the competitive team when our coach quit. It was something that I was passionate about but being in high school I just wanted to be with my friends. I tried my best to convince them to stay and it was no use. I made the tough decision to remain on the team while all of my friends quit. This decision shaped my leadership style and gave me my first real opportunity to lead a group. I felt a personal responsibility to the because if all of the seniors quit, who else would want to do it? I made it my mission to rebuild the team and recruit new members. The team we built was all new, new athletes and a new coach.  Since I was a veteran, the coach looked to me to assist her and build a bridge between her and the team. This role allowed me to find out the kind of leader I wanted to be and I am so happy that I made the decision to stay and endure the rebuild. I loved my high school career, but it wasn't over yet...

My mom practically forced me to try out at Ohio State. I wanted to be an Ohio State Cheerleader, but I was convinced that I was not good enough and would not make it. I tend to turn my back on things I fear, it's something that I have tried to stop because instead of facing a tough situation I just try to remove myself from it. My mom signed me up for stunting classes without my approval and did all of the appropriate research. I owe her everything. Finally try-outs came and they. were. terrifying. Roughly 80 girls were there for about ten open spots, and they were all talented. We went through a series of cuts, interviews, and a final routine over the course of three days. When they called my name on the last day was stunned that I had made the team with all of these incredible athletes. I remember being so shocked about it that it didn't hit me until I got into the car on my way home and I cried of happiness all the way back to Dublin. The experiences I have had while being an Ohio State cheerleader are one of a kind. I have had the privilege to be at every home football game, most basketball games and special university events. I could never put into words how much my team and this university mean to me after the experiences I have had with Ohio State cheerleading.

In all honesty I do not like the person I was growing up.  It is a tough time for everyone and I found that I caved into peer pressure and fell into a group of friends similar to a "Mean Girls" movie. I am annoyed that I spent so much time fostering fake friendships that made me into a bad person. I was finally able to find a group of people I enjoyed once I entered high school and I am still close with them today. My friend group has been with me through everything. We would hang out every weekend playing Taboo, watching movies and just sitting around talking. Those were honestly my favorite nights of high school. Ten of us would huddle up in my basement and just talk and laugh. I am so happy because the majority of these people are students at Ohio State so I can still see them. I am glad that I have been able to surround myself with positive, supporting and motivated people because I feel that I am a better person because of them. 

College has definitely been the time of my life.  I came into my freshman year convinced that I wanted to do something in medicine, such as physical or occupational therapy.  After realizing how difficult the classes are and thinking about how much free time I had, I decided to give up on pursuing a medical career.  I then decided to go into marketing, I'm honestly not sure why.  It must have been because I was most familiar with it, but there really wasn't a reason.  I felt so pressured to pick a major so I just sorta closed my eyes and picked one.  I am glad that I now enjoy marketing and I am excited about my future, but I will always wonder what would have happened if I stayed on my path.

I got involved in Kappa Alpha Theta and I have met some of the best people through Greek life.  As I said in my first post, both my mom and my grandma were Thetas at Ohio State, so it is really special to me.  I have a great support system in Theta with over 100 girls who I can call my sisters.  I often get asked how I can balance being an athlete, student, and being in a sorority and in all honesty I have no idea. I am hardly home and running around a lot, but I wouldn't have it any other way.  I make it work because I want to make it work. I found that prioritizing the things I want in my life makes the balancing act a little easier, but there are times where I want to be two places at once.

As far as the future goes, I have some ideas of where I am going but they also depend on where my opportunities lie, where my relationship goes, and what my desires are.  I would like to study abroad in Hungary after I graduate in 2015 because athletics offers a few study abroad scholarships that I would love to have.  The company that I interned at this past summer, Cardinal Health, has a 3 year rotational program for Marketing that I am very interested in.  That means I would stay in Dublin for three years after graduation, but it would be a great opportunity. It's nice to have an idea of where I want to be, but I am up for anything!

Looking back on my life I realize that nothing went as planned.  I had a lot of ideas as to where I would end up, and I didn't really follow those plans.  Its best to just live your life one day at a time and let the future come to you :) So, that's my story (at least the big parts) so far.  I can't wait to see what the next chapters hold.