I am so excited to get started at Penn State. There are a lot of great programs I can get involved with and so many opportunities to do so. There will also be a lot of challenges that I have to face here including: living on my own for the first time, making sure I am staying healthy and eating right, time management, not getting caught up in the wrong crowd, etc. To deal with these challenges, my first goal will be to make a good group of friends so that I won’t get caught up in the wrong crowd. My second goal will be to get involved in different clubs/activities such as intramurals and THON. I played pretty much every sport growing up, so I want to stay active and keep playing sports. The reason I want to get involved in THON, is because I was in Mini-Thon at my high school and I was able to see firsthand the impact it has on people’s lives and I want to keep helping out in whatever way I can.

In high school, I was able to get away with barely studying or not studying at all, and I could just rely on my natural ability to do well in school. I know that has to change in college if I want to maintain the same level of success, however. So, my next goal is to develop better study habits and get in a routine where I do my work and get my studying done at a set time every night. I’m not sure yet what I want to major in, but the goal is to do something in business, which means I have to get in to Smeal, the college of business here at PSU. In order to get in, however, I need at least a 3.2 GPA by the end of my sophomore year.  I am going to try to put myself in the best position possible to achieve this goal, so I am going to set the bar at a 3.8 GPA for my first semester, and by the end of my freshman year, have at least a 3.5. The four-year goal, obviously, is to graduate from the Smeal College of Business and get the best job I can possibly get. The reason I want to go in to business is because I was able to see the success my dad has in the field and I was also able to see my older brother graduate from Smeal last May, and get a great job right out of college, something I want for myself. I know I have set some lofty goals, but with a lot of hard work and dedication, I know I will be able to achieve them.