Sometimes focusing on one thing and specializing is a good thing, but sometimes it can become an obstacle, blinders that obstruct one from seeing the other things around them. It can often be difficult to remove those blinders and open your eyes.

Ceci Richardson, however, is not one to let difficulty stop her.

Richardson was very involved in basketball in high school, and she had been playing her whole life.  The game was a driving focus, but, one fateful injury forced her to look beyond the path she had set out on.

Junior year, Richardson had been recovering from an ACL tear when she tore it once again in a basketball scrimmage.

“I was a mess emotionally and physically,” Richardson said. “I didn’t know what I was going to do with myself because I had committed so much time to training and recovery.  That was my motivation, and, when it was gone, I felt stuck.”

Luckily, she said she had a great support network made of her family, friends, coaches and teachers, and they helped her get back on her feet “literally.”  She also had a strong faith that carried her through it, especially since, after that injury, she had to give up basketball for good.

That event, though, ended up teaching her a lot about herself, she said.

“It opened my eyes to other activities,” Richardson said.  She got involved with student council, her high school’s mini THON, and other community service activities, which she said she probably wouldn’t have been involved with if she had been able to continue with sports.

She even became president of her class.

“[These activities] have shaped the way I interact with other people, the way I view other people,” Richardson said. “They’ve helped me to communicate effectively with other people, and taught me teamwork in a sense different from sports.”

By the time her high school career came to a close, Richardson had conquered yet another obstacle.

She spoke at her graduation ceremony.

“When I was younger, I was really shy, even to the point where, when I was really little, I wouldn’t even speak,” Richardson said.

She said she could talk to her family, but she wouldn’t even speak to teachers at school.  These difficulties continued throughout elementary and middle school.

Yet, by her high school graduation, aided by experiences from the activities she was involved with after the injury, Richardson was able to get up in front of her class of 240 and give a speech.

“To have that opportunity to speak in front of a large crowd, to have the confidence to do that was cool,” Richardson said.

The general topic of her speech was the future.

Richardson’s favorite line, which she described as cliché but true, was “It is never too late to try something new and change your path because, with enough dedication, focus and creativity, there is no limit to what you can achieve.”

After graduation, Richardson found herself at Penn State, wearing the blue and white.

When she was applying, Richardson actually did not consider Penn State at first because she is from Central Pennsylvania, and she said everyone comes here.

However, after getting into Schreyer and learning more about the school, she decided it was the right fit for her.

Thus she entered the family.

 

Since coming to college, she said she has had many new experiences she wouldn’t have dreamed about. For example, she joined the club powerlifting team, which is something she wouldn’t have seen herself doing.

She is also taking her interpretation of the “We Are” and applying it to her life.

“I take the ‘We Are’ as a representation of the community here. Something that makes me think of is going to a football game and being in the student section,” Richardson said. “Being surrounded by that energy and spirit kind of encompasses the ‘We Are.’”

She said being a part of the “We Are” is a responsibility to promote the community.  To her, that means being there for her peers, being a good friend and a good citizen, and looking out for one another.

However, I would argue that other qualities she has also add to the “We Are.”

The fact that Richardson overcame an injury that closed the door on some of her goals fits in with and adds to the community that the “We Are” represents.

This is a community that has seen its fair share of troubles, especially recently.  The difficulties could have driven people away from Penn State, but, instead of breaking apart, the community banded together and became stronger.

Like the Penn State community, Richardson also confronted obstacles, and she used them to become a better person.

College is a place where we will all face difficulties.  Do we have it in us to overcome them as bravely as Richardson did?  I think that we all do, but some may have to dig deeper to find it.  However, as Richardson said, the “We Are” is about community, and communities band together through difficult trials, so we have a support network as we embark on a journey to find out.