Personal Statement
My volleyball experience began in 7th grade—actually, the first time I ever touched a volleyball was the first day of tryouts. Automatically, I became a middle hitter because I was the tallest girl on the team, of course. By the time I reached 10th grade, I started on Dallastown Area High School’s Varsity team as a middle. Following that school season, I decided to try club volleyball instead of continuing basketball (which I had played since 3rd grade).
Last club season I played for the Spooky Nook Volleyball Club in Lancaster, PA, on the 16 Elite team. This was my first year of club experience, and I really enjoyed it. We traveled to Denver, Colorado (my favorite tournament), and Florida for AAU Nationals, among many other tournaments. I felt that I grew tremendously as a player, which carried over in to my school season of junior year, where my team qualified for counties and districts for the first time in four years.
I am extremely excited to be playing for the Ballyhoo Club this season. The director of the volleyball program there is Jason Leppo, but my team’s coach is Justin Beachy.
Although I focus largely on volleyball, being a well rounded student has always been my main concern. Academically, I have a 4.0 GPA and a 6.014 out of 5 weighted GPA. I am currently ranked 4th in my class of roughly 380 students. My schedule consists of all Honors and AP courses, and I also chose to double my course load in English—hence the lengthy personal statement! Although I am not certain which field of study I will pursue in college, as of now I am interested in majoring in English, Engineering, or Business/Merchandising. I have been on Distinguished Honor Roll every marking period of my middle and high school education. I also won the American Legion Award of Distinguished Honors, was elected to the National Honor Society, was elected to Mu Alpha Theta (National High School Mathematics Honor Society) and was chosen as one of the two student representatives from Dallastown to attend the 2014-2015 Student Forum.
In addition to my studies, I volunteer within my school as well as my community. I am a part of Leo Club, Varsity Club, and Volunteer Club. Through these divisions I have been able to spend my time at our school district’s elementary schools babysitting and reading to children, fundraise for school projects, work concession stands at sporting events, and many other activities. On my own time, I have volunteered at local libraries, where I helped coordinate summer reading programs for kids; Leg Up Farms, where opportunities are provided for mentally disabled kids; and AnySoldier, which allowed me to send care packages to American troops overseas.