Personal Statement
My name is Valentyna Koudelkova. I am a sixteen year old junior at Manteo High School and I have been swimming for 7 years. Both of my parents were born and raised in the Czech Republic making me a duel citizen. I love swimming and plan and hope to do it in college.
I have been swimming since I was nine years old. I swim for the Outer Banks Swim Club, a very small swim team with a lower quality pool and only thirty or so people on the team. However, all the great people on my team and in my swim group make swimming in hot water not nearly as bad. I am there for a purpose and that is to succeed in the water.
Swimming at the collegiate level has been my goal since my first practice. Being nine at the time, I didn't realize how much time and effort I would have to put into swim in order to achieve that goal. Now being a junior in high school, I have seen what is necessary for me to do in order to swim in college.
Although swimming is important, I believe that school always comes first. I enjoy attending school as well as learning new things and interacting with those in my classes. I have been on Principals List since the third grade and have challenged myself within the classroom. At the end of my sophomore year, I am ranked 2nd out of 118 in my class, also, I currently have a 4.733 weighted and a 3.933 unweighted GPA. I plan to continue taking more and more AP classes till the end of high school.
Setting goals has always been something I enjoyed doing. Some of my goals at the moment are to get into the top three at my high school state meet as well as make a qualifying time for the NCSA Junior Nationals meet. Being able to reach those short or long-time goals eventually makes up for the let-downs and emotions that led up to that point. I have definitely had to leave my friends house at 6 in the morning or missed a few football games in order to get to practice but so far I believe it has paid off for me. I am excited to see what the future holds for me in the sport.