My mental health was never a huge concern until college. From my letter, I can tell how naïve I was about the stress and effect that college has on the mind. Over the past four years, I have never focused on my own mental wellness so much. I am incredibly proud of how far I have come in the aspect of mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing. However, I could benefit from building more muscle, but that will come with time. I also encouraged my future self to handle scenarios with compassion and understanding. The reason I said this is because that is exactly how my mother raised me. I can say it was difficult to deal with drama in the beginning, but I think that have developed many conflict resolution skills over my time at Longwood. This especially came from being in Leadership positions in both the Longwood Athletic Trainers’ Association and Alpha Gamma Delta.

After joining so many organizations (see home page for list), I believe I successfully enveloped myself in the Longwood community. Some of the people in these organizations gave me the best memories I will ever make. This includes attending all kinds of university activities that I am so glad I got to experience. I had to learn how to not drown myself in academics like I did in high school and enjoy the moment instead. It was tough at first, but I feel as though these organizations have allowed me to mature quickly. They also allowed me to give back to the community that has given so much to me. Volunteering at FACES and around the Longwood community was an incredible opportunity that I will never forget.

My letter spoke of having a “fire in your heart” for athletic training. Unfortunately, I did lose this fire for a small portion of time, but by senior year, I feel like I am back on track. I continued to prioritize academics and ended up with a 3.8 GPA which I am incredibly proud of. I have never been more excited to pursue a career in athletic training. I made lifelong friends and memories, engaged in meaningful service activities, and made the most of my college experience as best I could (in a pandemic might I add – a curveball that past Taylor did not see coming). I think I accomplished all of the things that past me wanted to, and I think she would be incredibly proud of how far we have come.