Overcoming Adversity during my First Year of College
As my Senior Year at Davie High School was coming to an end, I was quickly beginning to realize that my dream of becoming a collegiate athlete may not come true. I didn’t have any college offers and my GPA and ACT scores weren’t the best, but I wasn’t going to give up. So, I enrolled at a local community college to work on my academics and prepare to retake the ACT. I started emailing Coaches and inviting them to see me play softball on the weekends. Things were definitely going in the right direction and things were beginning to fall into place even though I had a few bumps in the road. After lots of hard work and many sacrifices, it had all paid off and I was going to be a Shaw Bear and be a member of the Women’s Softball Team.
Now that my senior year was over, I knew that I must enroll a community college so there would be no break in me going to school. I started the first semester of my freshman year of College in August of 2014 by taking a full course load of classes. I knew that all of the courses would transfer and I worked extremely hard and strived for good grades. There were extra classes offered to help prepare for the ACT and I took full advantage of the free opportunity. My goal was to retake the ACT in Early December and get a better score that the test before. Being at the community college allowed me to live at home and continue to work my part-time job and save money. This was a great opportunity and somewhat of a second chance to make my dreams come true.
While attending the community college, I was still playing softball every weekend with my travel team and only competing at the Showcase Level. I knew there would be College Coaches there watching us, so I started sending out e-mails to the softball Coaches at the schools that I was interested in. I would let them know where and when I would be playing in hopes that they could make it out one weekend. Then, I got the reply that I had been waiting on. It was from Coach Goree at Shaw University. She said that she was very interested in meeting with me and she invited me to Shaw for a visit. I was so excited and my mom and I quickly worked out all of the details to go and visit. The visit went great, logistics of my admission and financial aid were discussed and I was accepted to the Shaw University in November of 2014.
With the move in date of January 4th quickly approaching I knew I had lots of things to wrap–up and get done before that time. I was truly on cloud nine as I shared the news with everyone and I was so very appreciative of my family for all of their support. However, there was one person who I couldn’t share the news with in person, but I knew he was watching over me the entire time. In August of 2014 I lost my Pawpaw, he was the most important man in my life and I knew I had to make him proud. I was his only granddaughter out of 5 grandchildren and we had a very special bond. He is definitely proud of me and has been my guardian angel through this entire process.
The next obstacle that I had to face was re-taking my ACT in December of 2014. I knew the score that I needed to be eligible to play Division II softball at Shaw University. My anxiety levels were through the roof on test day, but I buckled down and tried my best. I felt confident after the test and I prayed that my scores were at or above where they needed to be. The next two weeks of waiting on the scores was agonizing and then the email that I had been waiting for finally came. I did it, I exceeded my goal and obtained the score necessary to become a collegiate athlete at Shaw University. I was ecstatic and couldn’t be more proud of myself for overcoming my fears of the ACT and conquering them.
The last obstacle I faced was leaving my family and my best friend. I was not one to stay far from home, but I knew that this is an amazing opportunity that I had to take. Everyone assured me that we would talk often they would come and visit and I knew I would be home as much as I could. Finally, move in day was here and it was a bittersweet day filled with lots of emotions. I was so excited about this journey that I was about to begin, but filled with emotions and tears about leaving everyone behind. It came time for everyone to leave after moving me in and reality sat in real quick, but I knew I would see them very soon.
Fast-forward to present day. I am truly thankful for the opportunity that I have been given to achieve my dreams of being a member of the Women’s Softball team here at Shaw University, and most importantly the opportunity to be a student athlete. The Spring Semester is almost over and my first full year of college is almost behind me. The road to get here wasn’t easy, but I wouldn’t change one thing about it. It truly taught me to set my goals high and not to let anyone or anything stop me from achieving them.
