Personal Statement
My name is Sandra Baumgardner and I'm currently a Junior at Bishop Verot High School in Fort Myers Florida. I was born in Colombia, South America and now I live in Fort Myers, Florida with my loving parents, three sisters and dog. Our family became a family through adoption and it was when I came to the United States at age 10 that I experienced the most transitions in my life. I had many things that I had to adjust to, like learning the language, building relationships, and learning new stuff at school. In the beginning, school was very hard for me and it was the loving patience of my mom and dad who have taken their time to help me learn and make me understand that I have to work hard in everything I do and never give up in order for me to be successful in life. When I got into middle school, I was a little nervous and shy. I made a couple of friends and that made me open up a little more. I played soccer for a year and thought this might be the sport I would like to play. After a while, I took a break and in late 2009 I started to swim for my dad. He had a small swim team that he coached everyday after work down in Naples. It was a long drive there, but my parents took the time to take me there to swim and knew that I needed to branch out and do other things besides school. This routine happened for almost two years and one day it came to my mind that swimming was the right sport for me. I told my parents that I wanted to competitively swim, so they put me in a club team near us and they took me as one of their own and I felt like I was part of a big family. I swam for this team for the last two years of my middle school and first year of high school. After that, I had to switch clubs, so that I can train with some of my classmates that also swam my new club team and the pool was also right across from the high school. I joined swimming in high school to be part of a team, which made the transition into high school easier. As I continued to swim for my club team and go to school, it made me feel like I can do things that I thought I couldn't do. Having to balance schoolwork and swimming at the same time makes me manage my time wisely and my dedication for swimming helps me with the everyday stress teenagers face. I earned my first Varsity letter and the 110% effort award for swimming my freshman year. This made me feel like I was part of something much more. Swimming gave me determination that I can accomplish anything if I put my mind to it. My schedule consists of swimming twice a day, morning and afternoon, three days a week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) and once a day, afternoon, three days a week (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday). It is difficult to go a day without swimming because it takes me out of a routine I have made for myself...even when there are days I don't want to get up early for practice and have to do 12 - 200's on 2:05. During my years of swimming for my club and high school team gives me something to strive for with the help of my amazing coach (Coach Mac Kennedy) and my awesome parents that would do anything for me to help me accomplish my goals. As my last year of high school swimming season begins, I want to make it the best and most unforgettable season of my four years in high school. My grades are where I want them to be and my goal is to get a 3.8 GPA or higher. I'm challenging myself to take harder classes and not do the minimum to pass by. I would like to continue swimming in college, while studying Education as my major. I do know what it is like to be part of a team and I really love the strong bond that teammates share. With my strong faith in God, hard work, and determination, I believe I can achieve the many goals I have set for myself in and outside of the pool.
