Athalie Mendoza '23 Recruiting Profile

My scholastic goal is to go to a division 1 quality college for business and graduate with a four-year degree.  My athletic goal is to join a top track/XC program that can take my running to the next level. My personal goal is to surround myself in a positive environment; teachers, coaches, mentors, friends, and teammates.  

The reason why I make a good candidate is I hate to lose.  I am a competitive person, which drives me to continuously improve. I have no problem sacrificing and working hard in order to achieve my individual and team goals. 

 Growing up, I learned the meaning of hard work from my mother. She was a single mother, who had to work two jobs in order to provide for my older brother and I. Most days I would stay in the back and watch my mother labor at her second job.  Afterward, she would continue to work at home by making us a warm meal at 11 pm, which I thought was normal. By 3rd grade, my mother had met my stepfather, who opened my world to sports. He was an athletic coach, who took us on family runs and started my running career. He worked for a Japanese company and would raise me on "Kaizen", which means continuous improvement. No matter how good I was, there was always room for improvement. This way of thinking was not only for sports but also for academics. What I feel makes me different from other recruits is I've dealt with struggle and overcame the obstacles in my life. I do not look down on my past, but use it as motivation to keep working hard.