Hello readers! I’d like to share with you all exactly how I came to be an undergraduate student at Mount St. Mary's University and what has kept me here.
When I was applying for colleges while still in high school, the Mount wasn’t even a school I knew existed. I had been swimming year-round since I was 11 years old; and ever since I got into high school, I promised myself, as well as my parents, that I would get a swimming scholarship to college. Since my father had been unable to work for several years and my mother was supporting our entire family of 6 on her nursing salary, getting a more than decent swim scholarship to college was the only way I could think to repay my parents for all they had done and sacrificed to ensure my brother and I could keep swimming.
Having two older sisters who were both in college at the time when my twin brother and I were sophomores really helped put into perspective the hardships my mother put herself through to ensure her children could have anything we ever wanted. I never truly appreciated it while my father was still alive, but before my brother and I got our licenses, my father would wake my brother and I up multiple times a week at 4:15 a.m. to make sure we never slacked on any of our morning practices for swimming. He would drive my brother and I to practice, then to school afterward, then pick us up from school to go to our second practice of the day, and finally take us back home from practice to make dinner. He did this all while assuming the role of financial, legal, and physical caretaker of the house while my mom worked to keep the lights on and food on the table.
Given my parents' devotion to us, I really wanted to be able to show them how much their support meant by being able to go to school for swimming on scholarship. It wasn't going to be easy, but it ultimately is what brought me to the Mount. Check back soon for part 2 of this story!