Meet Madison!

Madison is a 22 year-old American who graduated with a degree in Kinesiology from the University of Illinois Chicago this past spring.

Having spent 4 years entirely consumed by academia and soccer, Madison was intent on taking a gap year. She wanted to focus, recharge, and pursue passions outside of soccer and school. One of those passions that she hadn’t had an opportunity to pursue was travel.

“The longest travel experience I have is spending 2 weeks in Europe with my family. Those 2 weeks opened my eyes to the fact that there is so much more out there than just the American way of life. My time in Europe left me hungry to see other parts of the world and explore different cultures.”

Madison was also planning to go back to school for Sports Psychology, and needed to devote significant time to grad school applications during this year.

While she was considering her options, Madison noticed that a friend of hers was participating in a program called Edumadic. After getting in touch with her to learn more about the program, she realised it would be a perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. She could work on her grad school applications during one of the programs that coincided with the same time that these applications were due.

A year on from that revelation, you can now find Madison watching sunsets, discovering secret cafes and hiking the nearest peak, all while preparing for her future as a sports psychologist.

You can find Madison on Instagram @madisonpollard13