As a freshman in the Happy Valley, I am still in the process of developing passions for the different aspects of the Penn State experience.  However, as I begin my journey at Penn State, I continue to find joy in the passions that I carrying over into my Penn State lifestyle and in the ones that impacted my pre-Penn State journey.

On a not-so-serious note, I am fully committed to my daily breakfast ritual.  My daily breakfast consists of Kashi GoLean Cinnamon Crisp cereal with Fiber One Original sprinkled on top.  Each day of my senior year, I ate this exact same combination during my first period class. You may be wondering how I brought a bowl of cereal to school every day, and I, in fact, take pride in the effectiveness of the portable method that I used.  I transported and ate the cereal out of a red plastic cup. In order to ensure that the dry cereal would not spill on my drive to school, I covered the cup with a piece of aluminum foil. Now, a bowl—or plastic cup—of cereal is not complete without milk, but pouring the milk on the cereal ahead of time would have made it soggy by the time I arrived to school.  Instead, I brought the milk in an aluminum water bottle, which also conveniently kept the milk chilled on my way to school. Once I made it to my first period class, the foil came off; the milk went on; and I had a portable “bowl” of cereal each day. My first period teacher told me that my “breakfast consistency [was] unparalleled” and asked for a red solo cup/plastic spoon donation to let the streak of the cereal cup live on forever.  In order to start my Penn State journey off on the right note each morning, I packed five boxes of Kashi, two boxes of Fiber One, and a pack of red plastic cups.

On a more serious note, I was very passionate about making a difference in my high school community, and I am hoping to do the same in the Happy Valley.  This past year, I teamed up with 150 of my fellow classmates and served as the Event Captain for TigerThon, our dance marathon to raise funds and awareness for pediatric cancer.  Through high school athletics, I experienced and learned how successful a team can be when all members buy into the bigger picture. In our first Captains Meeting of the year, I tried to express this mentality to the 30 of my senior classmates who would serve as the captains of TigerThon’s 12 committees during our senior year.  I told them that we have one chance to make our mark on our community and that if we all work for the greater good, we could greatly expand the outreach of TigerThon in our school district. We strove to continue to unite students and families in the fight against pediatric cancer and to raise $5oK, building upon the $35K raised the previous year.  Looking back on the journey, I have never been prouder to have worked with and led so many of my peers who were willing to give everything they could to ensure that “No Child Fights Alone.” Revealing, in front of an estimated 1,400 people, that TigerThon 2019 raised over $100K was one of the proudest moments of my high school career, and I am forever passionate about the impact that high school students can make in their communities.