Year Review

My freshman year was a year of highs and lows, first times, and stress and excitement. I can honestly say that the past year has been one of the most informative, fun, and stressful yet wonderful years of my life. I am born and raised in Cincinnati, only about 20 minutes away from this beautiful campus. As one of five children, I have always grown up with compromising and sharing almost everything I have. That said I was extremely nervous about moving out of the house and into a dorm room with 3 other girls. I, unfortunately, was right to be worried. I did not get along well with my roommates. While I regret not being able to connect with them, we coexisted, and I still had a good freshman year, being able to hang out with friends or go home for a day or two when I became too stressed out and needed some space! I may not have been able to control all of the details concerning my dorm life and get what I wanted when I wanted it, but I made it through. I learned that I need to not be overly worried about all of the fine details in life, but to just focus on the necessities and main points, and once I can get past those, then I can focus on the smaller, more trivial things.

One thing that did not change for my freshman year was that I was focused on my schoolwork. Coming from a Catholic school and a family that really emphasized reaching one’s true potential, I worked hard on my time management and balancing school, extra-curriculars, and my social life. While the first semester was difficult at times, with a challenging Pre-Nursing curriculum and Military Science courses, I am proud to say that I earned a 4.0 GPA and managed to still have a social life outside of classes!

Freshman year was also a year of many firsts! As a high school student I decided that the right path for me was that of joining the United States Army. As a freshman Army ROTC cadet, I learned that I had made the correct and absolutely best choice for myself. I experienced my first time...