Andrea Ritziu '18 Recruiting Profile

I remember my very first swimming lesson. I was terribly scared of the water and could have never imagined myself swimming as an athlete. Now many years later, I've come to love swimming for many reasons. It has taught me so many lessons that I have used and will continue to use not only in swimming, but throughout my life as well. I've learned about commitment, concentration,  time management, prioritization, and so many other things.  I have been able to thrive in school because of the concentration and time management skills that I have learned in swimming. As to why I go to the pool every day, here's the thing- yes, we spend hours on end practicing, but it's all worth it because the second I touch the wall and see my newly dropped time I know those hours of training had a purpose. It's probably one of the best feelings in the world. I am forever grateful to swimming for the relationships I have made with my team mates and coaches, but most importantly for allowing me to win (and loose) with grace, which only made me better understand that if you truly want something and you do everything you can to make it come true, then nothing can stop you. So going into college, I know I want to major in Psychology. I have always been fascinated by the human mind and how it works. I love helping people, so some professional careers that I would be interested in post college would be either psychologist, social worker, counselor, or therapist.