When I was younger, any sport that I saw on TV or that my friends were doing, I wanted to try. So at 6 years old, I was doing dance, gymnastics, soccer, etc. When I saw the Winter Olympics on the TV and told my parents (who had already indulged my other sport activities), that I wanted to try figure skating. Thinking it would be another phase, my parents said yes. Little did they know that I would soon drop every other activity to focus on the sport that has brought me here today.
 
In my senior year of high school, there was no doubt in my mind that I was going to continue skating in college. I had no concept of what collegiate skating was like, but I knew that my journey in the sport was not over. I did not like the idea that I would have to choose between higher education or skating, so I chose both. I grew up in a small town and went to college at the university in my hometown, Liberty University, that just so happened to have a team at the rink I grew up skating in. Looking back, I now recognize this opportunity was truly a gift.

My very first exposure to collegiate skating for a university was before my classes even began at Liberty. The U.S. Collegiate Championships took place the summer before my freshman year fall semester. Immediately, the environment felt entirely different. For many skaters like myself who grew up competing in our respective regions, competitions felt intense. For myself and my experience, there was not a lot of camaraderie outside of your core training crew between competitors or other coaches. This never bothered me heavily, but I never knew anything else. Coming into the 2017 U.S. Collegiate Championships, I found myself in the support of not only my teammates but other competitors and coaches from other universities.

This concept was foreign to me but made my experience both on and off the ice at the competition so much more relaxed and fun. The pressures that I would put on myself when I was competing were essentially mitigated as a product of the environment I was competing in. The programs that I put out that weekend were some of the best I have skated, and I think that is both a reflection of my training, but additionally a reflection of the support I was receiving at the moment. Bringing home a medal made the experience all the more rewarding, as well as the friends that I would make in my own competitors.

Continuing into the intercollegiate seasons over the next four years, that atmosphere and training environment that was so supportive really helped grow my passion for the sport. Now I have continued my collegiate skating career and same passion for skating into my graduate program as I obtain my Doctorate of Physical Therapy degree at The Ohio State University. If you had told that 6-year-old that I would be where I am at today, I am not quite sure she would have believed you.
 
The culmination of my successes in the sport used only to be the achievements I had made, whether that was passing tests, placing or getting trophies and awards. But since being involved in collegiate skating those achievements go beyond that; they're moments in practice having my team, who has watched my program dozens of times, doing my choreography with me on the boards. It's in team workouts at six a.m. when no one is truly awake. It's in traveling and playing games on bus rides to competitions, and it's in team culture that helps foster a love for the sport. It showed me that my successes and my failures in this sport are not my identity in the sport, but it is in the moments in between and the support system that you have around you that truly make your experience in this sport worthwhile.
 
So, if you aren't sure whether or not you want to continue skating in college, though I may be biased, I'd tell you to do it. Being a college athlete is not easy by any means and balancing school and skating is a challenge in and of itself. You will have good days and bad days, days that the rink is the last thing on your mind, but you'll also find yourself with a second family, a group of people to support you on those bad days. That team aspect to me made my experience, and so many others, some of the most memorable aspects of my career to date. And I will forever be thankful for collegiate skating making that possible.