Personal Statement
I first fell in love with running while playing soccer as a kid. When I played club soccer, my coaches would always make us run a lot for conditioning, and while most girls hated it - the running was often one of my favorite parts about practice. I began to run elementary track on top of playing travel soccer, going straight from track to soccer. My mom was worried that I was playing too many sports at the time (as I was also playing basketball on top of soccer and track) but I firmly told her I wanted to run because “I feel so happy and peaceful when I run”. That feeling has not diminished at all since then, in fact, when I started racing, it made running all the more fun and exciting for me. I remember after I won my first race in 5th grade at the County Private Schools League in the 800m by a lot, I was thrilled. However, it wasn’t until 8th grade when I raced in my first cross country race and ended up getting 2nd, much to myself and my coach’s surprise, that I knew I wanted to race competitively. Since then, I have enjoyed winning many individual races, but my favorite and most memorable memories of running are those when my teammates and I have worked together to win races and encouraged each other on and off the track. My favorite team highlights are: our girl’s cross country team recently winning 2nd at a meet after not having a team for several years; finishing on the podium in both the 4x4 and the 4x8 at the AHSAA Indoor State Championship with the same four girls for both relays; and last but definitely not least, winning the 4x8 State Championship in 9th grade as the all freshman underdog team - shocking the state! These experiences, along with the struggle of sometimes training alone, have shown me that there is nothing better than being and winning as a team or encouraging my teammates while trying my best.
My love for running and love for competing as a team makes running in college a challenge I desire. Since I attend a smaller private high school, where not very many people run (especially distance), I would love the opportunity to be a part of a collegiate team where people love to run, train hard, and be a team together while giving their best effort. I know that it will take a lot of hard work to keep my grades high while training and competing, but my long-term career goal is to be a medical doctor (M.D.) or become a physical therapist. I would like to become a doctor or physical therapist to help people, particularly kids, just like doctors helped me as a child. Both of these professions require mental and physical tenacity, hard work, determination, dedication, and perseverance just like running demands. Running and competing at the college level on a team is something I desire to do.