Personal Statement
Spring 2018
Hello,
Thank you for taking the time to look at my profile and learn about me. My name is Aidan Lohr. I live in Wisconsin Dells, WI and am a sophomore at Baraboo High School in Baraboo, WI.
I started swimming on a summer rec team when I was six years old. My first race ever, was the backstroke leg of an 8U, 100-yard medley relay in an outdoor pool. The temperature outside was in the low 50s. Halfway across the pool, I ran into the lane lines, jumped into the other team’s lane and started swimming the wrong way back to the starting blocks. My teammates on that relay were all two years older than I, and they were supportive and encouraging. The freezing and embarrassed kid in me wanted to quit, but my competitive spirit won out.
Ever since that day, swimming has become a huge part of my life and has taught me lessons about friendship, hard work, teamwork and how to deal with successes and failures along the way. I enjoy being in the water and around my friends and I have learned over the years that how I handle my struggles and failures speaks more about my character than anything else.
Our high school team graduated six seniors after my freshman year, so we were a young team this past season, with five freshman and five sophomores, out of a 14-man team. I began to step up my leadership skills, helping to guide and support my teammates throughout the season. I am a quiet leader, and I lead by example. I am competitive, yet even-tempered, and I practice good sportsmanship, both in and out of the water. While I love to win, I never hang my head when I do not achieve the goals I set for myself. I always congratulate my teammates and competitors on their successes.
As a young child, through elementary and middle school, I also played football, basketball and baseball. I love being active, and while I enjoyed all of those sports, I had big goals for swimming and I wanted to focus seriously on swimming as a full-time sport. To do that, I felt I needed to dedicate myself. I open enrolled in the Baraboo School District so that I could swim for a high school team (Wisconsin Dells does not have a school pool or team). I have also attended the University of Wisconsin Badger Swim Camp for the past five summers and will attend again this June.
During the summers, I work at the Tommy Bartlett Show in Wisconsin Dells, a live, outdoor attraction, which is a water ski, sky and stage show. I have done anything that needs to be done: picking garbage, parking cars, working in the concessions stand, and ushering, vending and selling tickets for 13 different Wisconsin Dells attractions. One day each summer, the Tommy Bartlett Show hosts an Apostolate to the Handicapped Day, where over 1,000 mentally- and physically-handicapped people come to the outdoor stadium, have their mass, eat lunch and watch a free show. I enjoy volunteering my time for this event. I feel it is important to give back and it feels good to make other people smile. It helps me realize how fortunate I am to be healthy and able to do what I love.
In my free time I like to be outside. I water-ski and can slalom, jump and barefoot. I also like to play pick-up basketball with my friends.
My long-term swimming goals are to swim at college, make it to the NCAAs and swim at the Olympic trials. I want to swim. I also want to find a college that is a good fit for me, both academically and athletically. I want to be challenged and excited about what I do every day and be on a team of supportive teammates. There are no pretenses about me. I am determined and will work hard to be a good student, teammate and leader.
Thank you for your consideration,
Aidan Lohr
