Monika Parkila '24 Recruiting Profile

I have loved swimming since I was introduced to it but never joined a team until 2020. The world had shut down due to covid, my dance studio was closed, and my mom asked me, "What about swimming?". With nothing else to turn to, I dove straight in onto my school's joint Varsity Team. I loved that I could choose how hard to push myself and I loved the sense of accomplishment from completing each practice. After my first swim year, I was convinced I would do it next year. But then I got accepted to International Academy, one of the top-ranked schools in Michigan for academics. I transferred and signed up for my home high school's team. Even though it was different people and different coaches I was super excited, but then my dad told me that I wouldn't be allowed to compete due to MHSAA's transfer regulations. Despite attempting to appeal based on my transferring schools for academic reasons and not athletic, the appeal was rejected. As someone who had only been swimming for one year, it might have been expected that I would have quit and returned fully to dance. But I was stubborn. I practiced with the team both mornings and afternoons and continued to swim. I swam alone during the break in the middle of the meet just to get a time. I would step up on the block and look out at the empty pool and then at the end of the lane to see my teammates cheering for me.  Even though I was never competing against others, I competed against my time from the previous meet, consistently breaking my own records with only myself to compete against. I learned that I can push myself even if it means I will never come in first or win a medal due to my efforts.