Hello and welcome back!
I’d like to thank all the readers who have found interest in the experiences that brought me to Mount St. Mary’s University. Picking up where part 1 left off, I’d like to flashforward to my senior year of high school. With acceptance letters and athletic commitments posts from my friends and peers appearing on almost every scroll of my Instagram feed, I began to worry whether or not I’d be able to fulfill the promise I made to my parents as well as myself.
Even though my brother and I were twins and considered equals, I never really felt as if we were when it came to swimming (though I never spoke it aloud or told him until after high school). My brother always seemed to have such a consistent drive and a much better work ethic when it came to swimming, and it led him to achieve a good deal more than me in terms of state wide placement and value on the college scouting website for swimming (swimcloud.com).
By the middle of the senior year my brother had committed to swim for the University of Connecticut's Huskies with his scholarship covering half of his tuition. By that same time I was also accepted into University of Connecticut and was even offered a spot on their swim team. However, since my swimming skills were not as valued as my brother's and were only considered average on their team, I wasn’t offered nearly enough money to attend and was forced to look elsewhere if I wanted to help pay back the gifts and opportunities given to me by my parents.
I was accepted into George Mason University, University of Delaware, Ithaca College, American University, and Iona college in New York before the deadline for athletic commitments were in. Unfortunately, none of the schools were able to give me an athletic scholarship that would take some of the financial hardship off my parents. At that point I was heartbroken and felt as if I had failed my parents, my coaches, my peers, and even myself for not living up to the promises I made. I knew the road ahead of me wouldn't be easy, however, that fear wasn't going to deter me from facing my circumstances head on and doing everything in my power to over come it.
Check back next week to see how I took this seemingly negative experience and turned it around to benefit my family and myself. Spoiler: It's what led me to this point, being here, sharing my story with you on My View of MSMU!