Diego Varona '18 Recruiting Profile

My name is Diego Varona.  I’m a junior at Passaic County Technical Institute (PCTI), in Wayne, New Jersey. My expected graduation date is June 2018.  I have been taking Graphic Arts (10 hours a week for the entire school year) since my freshman year while in high school.  I am the first generation of my family who was born in this country and I feel both privileged and challenged to do better.  My parents emigrated from Colombia looking for better opportunities.  Now they are naturalized citizens of this beautiful country.

Over the past few months I’ve been searching for colleges around the country that offer what I would love to study.  I’m very passionate about Game Design and I have already taken a few intensive courses over the summer.  I completed in May 13th, 2017 the 12-week intensive workshop for Future Game Designers at NYU.  I submitted my application to this program and I was selected out of 700 applicants.  I’ve been doing my college search, whenever I have a few hours here and there.  It's a bit challenging since there are not many schools that offer both my passions: Game Design and a Swimming Program

I’ve been swimming since I’m 9 years old (at the Boys & Girls Club of Clifton) but I started seriously about 3 years ago.  The spark that started my new love for swimming was the NJSIAA Championship Tournament.  I’ve been part of my school’s swimming varsity team since my freshman year.  Our team obtained the first ever New Jersey North I Group A championship while I was in the team as a freshman (2014-2015).  We won the same sectional again the next year (2015-2016). As a junior, our team made it to the championship but we obtained second place.  This is my last year of high school.  Our coach, Denise Aronson, has built a strong team.  Our swimming season started on November 6th, 2017 and ends in February of 2018.  The season is about 14 weeks long, but it takes me a full year to prepare for it.  I always want to give it all.  As the team captain I’m expected to set the example to those new comers to our team.  I do this gladly and I’m always up to the challenge.

Our varsity team practices right after our classes are over between November and February.  We practive from Monday thru Friday from 3:30PM to 5:00PM and on Saturdays from 9:00AM to 11:00AM.  This only a small percentage of my commitment to the team.  Weekdays after varsity practice I then go home, which is in a different town than my school. With all the traffic in route 80 East (NYC is about 12 miles away) I get home around 6:00PM.  My parents take turns taking me to the practice with my swim club: The Red Hawk Swim Club, RHSC in Montclair.  My coach at RHSC is Joseph Mulvaney.  I had, I still do, learned a lot from him.  He’s not the screaming type of coach but he makes sure we listen to him one way or the other.  He’s the one that sees in me great potential and I make sure I don’t disappoint him.  I practice with Joe on weekdays from 6:30PM to 8:00PM and participate in every meet he wants the team to swim at.  In average we had meets at least twice a month over the weekends.  The meets with my varsity team are twice a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays).  My favorite individual events are 50 free, 100 free, 200 free, 500 free and 100 fly.  I also love the team relays (200 and 400).

I would love to visit your school and talk to both the head of admissions and the swim team head coach. I really hope that you consider me as part of your institution.  I promise I won’t disappoint you.