On November 13th, 1997 Daniel was born in Miami, Florida. His parents, Michael and Karen, were excited to welcome their second child into the family, at this time they had no idea what he would be able to do. When Daniel was 6 years old his family moved to Mexico.At the age of 6 you can not quite understand what someone having cancer is; however, when Daniel's mom was diagnosed with breast cancer he surely understood one thing: his life was going to change. It seemed so sudden but his family was packing up and moving, not just moving across the state or country, but to a different country, to Mexico.The long drive along the coast seemed to take an eternity, but when they arrived in Mexico Daniel could tell he was going to like it. Adapting was not easy at first. Over time Daniel was able to adapt and began to fit in with his peers in Mexico, he excelled in many areas. His school was very small, having only 150 kids spanning from 6th to 12th grade, so Daniel participated in nearly every sport. Playing soccer, flag football, field hockey, basketball, swimming, and running made for a very busy high school career, especially when he had to focus some time on his school work. Now, a freshman at Florida State University, Daniel is studying Finance and Risk Management; but, similar to many freshman he may alter his career path and change his major as his collegiant adventure continues. When in need of inspiration Daniel looks to his grandfathers, as they both lived the fulfilling lives that led to much enjoyment; that is just the type of life Daniel hopes to live- long prosperous and happy.
Amanda Lewis was born in Nashville, Tennessee at the ripe young age of zero. Her parents are divorced, and she moved to Florida with her mother when she was eight. For high school graduation, she got to go to Australia and New Zealand. This trip was a gift from her grandmother, and is one of the last memories she has of her. She was the youngest person on the trip at nineteen years old, with most of the tourists in her tour group being age fifty or older. She fondly recalls bungee jumping in New Zealand and snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef. She visited the Sydney Zoo but couldn't hold a koala as she intended to because it is illegal. In Amanda's opinion, New Zealand was prettier than Australia, on the basis that New Zealand has more mountains. She is now an exercise science major at FSU, is on the pole vaulting team, and plans on becoming a veterinarian, despite being allergic to cats. She dreams of settling down with someone and having one son, one daughter, and numerous dogs.
Delaney Harkins grew up in Birmingham Alabama with a loving family and a superior public education. During elementary school she was involved in a club swim team, swimming being choice sport until her fifth grade year. In middle school she became scuba certified, made all A's, and took up lacrosse. One of her favorite memories during this time was playing with her her cat and two dogs. She loved them like family, but she had a unique relationship with her dog Malibu. The day she turned thirteen, Delaney was with her family at their lake house at Smith Lake, Alabama. They were spending the afternoon knee boarding on their speed boat. While on the water, Delaney inhaled deeply of the fresh air and turned to look at the shore as they bounced forward. She noticed a dog on the shore and smiled. "If only my dog at home weren't so awful," she thought. The dog saw them too, and without warning, jumped off the the rocks and swam toward their boat. Her frame was emaciated from malnourished, but she was sweet and gentle. Moved with sympathy, Delaney's family took her to the vet and decided to welcome Malibu as their newest edition. She couldn't have asked for a better birthday present. Malibu become Delaney's companion as she entered high school, where she continued to play lacrosse became involved with the school's student government association. Delaney excelled and was eventually accepted into Florida State University, where she is currently studying to become a dentist. Even though she is busy with her classes and her extra-curricular activities, Delaney still makes time to go home to visit her family and to see Malibu, who continues to be an loving inspiration and a loyal friend.
Jessica Pavlov was born and raised in Panama City Beach, Florida; the small town made her beyond happy and she couldn't dream of living anywhere else. She's played basketball her whole life, so when she tore her ACL her junior year of high school, she was devastated. She had to spend a lot of time in the operating room and unfortunately, her surgeries were troublesome and she couldn't play basketball anymore. Deeply upset, she worked through her emotions, and it took a bit, but she got over the bad situation and has moved on. She's still unable to play the sport, but she'll always cherish the times when she could. Going into college, she had a lot to consider; her older sister, who is her biggest role model, is at UF and although she also got accepted to the University, she wanted to be different from her sister, so she chose to come to FSU instead. Here, her role model is her big in her sorority Delta Gamma. Both her and her big are in the science field so she feels a strong connection to her because they both have to study hard for their majors. Jessica aspires to be an orthodontist when she graduates because she had this one friend that had bad teeth and was insecure about them, but when he got his teeth fixed, he started smiling a lot and just seemed genuinely more happy, so she wants to be an orthodontist to make people happy. She plans on starting her practice in Florida, and plans on staying here for the rest of her life because it's where she grew up and she loves in here. She's extremely excited for the future and can't wait to see where life is going to take her.
Jordan Via was born in Northport, Florida, but he doesn’t really consider Northport his home. He moved to Venice, Florida at a very young age and it is this city, just south of Tampa on the west coast, that he spent the many “interesting” years of his childhood. He may not have had much of a connection with his father while he was growing up, but he did have one of his most memorable experiences with him while he was in the fifth grade at Pineview. The school itself was incredibly small considering that grades 3 all the way to 12 were taught there with just about 2,000 students. Jordan’s graduating class was one of the biggest that the school had ever seen, with just 270 students, and so he recalls knowing every single person in the class by name, if not every person in the upper grades. While Jordan was in the fifth grade, he took a states and capitals test that he had to have signed by his father. But when he got home to give the test to his dad, Mr. Via was dozing in dreamland, so it took a while for him coaxed from his slumber to sign the paper. That should have been the end of the story. However, Jordan’s father had been so engrossed in getting his rest that he had simply made some scribbles on the paper, and Jordan’s teacher leapt at what she thought was academic dishonesty. “You forged your father’s signature!” she cried. Jordan then did exactly what a fifth grader who was just trying to get his work done would do at that point: he cried. According to Jordan, his father stormed into the school the next day and “ripped [his] teacher a new one” for accusing his son of something that he was completely innocent of. Not all of Jordan’s experiences there were so dramatic though. It was also the place where he took AP Macroeconomics, where he had an “awesome teacher” who gave the class tons of “personal attention.” It was one of the main reasons why Jordan decided to become a Finance major when came to FSU, a place so utterly different from Pine View as far as size goes that it was initially shocking.
Combined Narrative Cassidy Ross is a girl trapped between the lines—state lines, that is. When asked where she’s from, unlike most people, she doesn’t get the luxury of a simple one-name answer. For Cassidy, home is not a place, but a story. That story begins in Birmingham, Alabama, a relatively small city but still the largest in the state. There, she lived with her older half-brother, her mother, and her father, with her grandfather just a short drive away. It was with him, at his little house tucked away in the woods, that some of her fondest memories would grow. One morning in particular stands out in her mind. She had woken up early, just in time to watch the sky turn pink above the black silhouette of the trees. She thought maybe after the sunrise, she’d fall back asleep, but the sound of someone puttering around in the kitchen drew her from her room. She caught her grandfather just as he was leaving the kitchen. Upon seeing her, he gave a raspy, “good morning” and nodded in the direction of the front door. She followed him out to the front porch and over to their usual spot, where he sat his coffee on the table and told her he’d be right back. Not expecting anything out of the ordinary, Cassidy took a seat at the other side of the table and waited. Her grandfather returned promptly, carrying in his arms an old, discolored globe. He sat the globe on the table between them and said to her, “This was your father’s, once.” Cassidy swallowed back the burn of grief. She’d lost her father when she was just four, but the mere mention of him still resonated in the hollow space behind her ribs. However, when Cassidy watched her grandfather spin the globe, his eyes sparkling with childlike joy as he jabbed his finger on random countries, something warm bubbled up to fill the hole. They made a game of it—spinning the globe, tapping locations, making up plans for their travel to every corner of the world. Cassidy would become a bit of a wanderer herself, living in two more states before even graduating high school. Even then, she’d only seen a small part of a great big world, full of strange places and even stranger people. But looking back, she realizes the whole world could be one little house in Alabama, wrapped in the enclosure of the trees and bathed in the pink light of sunrise, and still be enough.
Erin Christopher has always been a unique intellect, taking her education to the next level. As she grew up, her education took her many places. Through elementary and middle school, Erin faced many obstacles as she dealt with bullying. Luckily, for Erin, this built a strong sense of character. Her sense of creativity led her into a world of wonders as she began explore her writings to come up with the most intriguing stories. As a small child, her parents could almost always find her with a pencil or a crayon developing and giving life to a story. What was meant as a hobby sparked a flame in Erin. This flame burned inside and she then realized that she was called to be a writer. The best way for her to live a full life and enjoy her future was to pursue a career in writing. In the beginning, she had not intended on pursuing a career I'm creative writing and had originally had an eye for the science field. Erin and her mother began looking at art school, and Erin knew at that moment that she made the right choice. As she progresses her writing, she allows others to guide her to see different angles and is always absorbing new approaches into entice her audience. If there is an epidemic, Erin Christopher is writing about it and continues to spread her creativity to as many people as possible.
Remixed narrative: AnnaJane Hand was born at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital on May 20th, 1998. She was the first born child of her young parents, who went on to have four more children. She had a very close and loving relationship with her family members and grew up in Tallahassee, receiving her education as both a homeschooler and as a student of a private Catholic school. In her free time, AnnaJane picked up ballet and tap dancing, as well as soccer and horseback riding. In her middle school years, she was mostly homeschooled in a community environment where her and other students would come together. It was during this same time period that AnnaJane found a passion for swimming and met her best friend, Gigi Fontenot. She also became more involved in her youth group during middle school, specifically during seventh grade. During the summer before seventh grade, AnnaJane went on a religious retreat to Camp Covecrest in Georgia with her Catholic youth group, and took part in frequent group prayer. One evening, AnnaJane was praying with her group by a lake amidst the mountains, and felt a presence. This was the first time she felt God’s energy and his love for her. This life-changing experience prompted AnnaJane to find her true calling: she decided to dedicate her life to serving God. This experience caused her to become further immersed in her faith, and followed her since. After a few very meaningful years of middle school, AnnaJane transitioned to high school, which was her first experience with public school. Throughout high school, she continued her devotion to swimming and her youth group. She never strayed away from her academics, as she graduated Magna Cum Laude and got accepted to the Florida State University Honors College. To this day, AnnaJane is still an exemplary student and is very involved in the Catholic Student Union.
Keegan was born in Lakeland, Florida on July 17, 1998. His family lived in Plant City, Florida for the first four years of his life before moving back to Lakeland, where they still currently reside. Their household consisted of his parents, his younger sister, and their family dog named Pipkin. Growing up, Keegan always had many interests, but he found his true passion in sports. He participated in soccer, basketball, baseball, flag football, and golf over the years and his interest in sports has inspired him to major in actuarial science with the hope of pursuing a career in sports analytics and statistics. Even though his sports experiences are a big part of his life, one of the most impactful experiences in Keegan's life had nothing to do with athletics. The summer before his junior year of high school, Keegan went on a school trip to Europe with 30 students from his school and 7 adults. During the trip, they went to Madrid and Barcelona in Spain, followed by several stops in France, and finally Florence and Rome in Italy. The trip lasted for 12 days, and they explored many modern attractions as well as historical locations like churches and monuments. There were many amazing sights and experiences, but the highlight of the trip for Keegan was getting to see the Vatican, Seeing a major cultural and religious hub like that in person allowed him to see the world in a different way than he ever had before and will continue to be one of his most memorable experiences throughout his life.
Originally from the West Coast, Amber Chu began the Floridian lifestyle at age 7. Amber and her sister were the only Chinese students in her elementary school. Finding somewhere to fit in, Amber started dance. She immediately fell in love and has been dancing ever since. Not only is Amber a dancer, she is also a musician. Attending an art school, Amber can play the flute. With all of her many talents, Amber hopes to represent a big company that will enhance the relationship with China and America in her future. Moving to a different country sounds intimating but Amber has already spent a summer away from home. Going into her senior year of high school, Amber Chu packed her bags for two months of that summer and flew over to Taiwan to teach kids English. The program Amber participated in recruited participants from all over the world. Amber created lasting bonds with people from Europe and Australia. Thousands of miles away from home, Amber wasn't all alone. Her grandparents live in Taiwan and Amber was able to visit them during her stay. This experience was life-changing for Amber and she can't wait to go back.
Jeff Beck is a branch manager for a construction company called "Top Build" and Laurie Beck is a stay at home Mom. Sara Beck is their middle child. Sara was born on the 30th of September, has an older brother and a younger one as well. Sara lived in the Atlanta area before moving to Ormond Beach, North of Daytona, when she was very young. It is always difficult to abandon your home, move to another place, and redefine your identity based off of where you live. Sara had to go through this change of space and had to learn to adapt. It is a common misconception to think that South Georgia and North Florida have the same customs , but even though they do share many things they have even more distinct characteristics that set them apart. Sara's home changed, and so did she. Sara went to Spruce Creek High School where she took 4 years of Spanish, fell in love with Tennessee Williams, her favourite author, was part of the IB program, and enjoyed Economics class the most. Sara's good grades and academics payed off when she was given a spot in the Honours College at Florida State University. So, after being part of a graduating class of 750 peers, classmates, and close friends, Sara said goodbye to her home, and head off to Tallahassee, Florida to double major in Business Management and Exercise Physiology. Now, even though its her first semestre, Sara has big plans for herself in the future. Sara has thought about Studying Abroad, or volunteering abroad. Sara has been to many places around the world, but would like to add more countries, cities, and experiences to her list.
Evann was born in Atlanta, Georgia and has lived there her whole life in a little suburb called Lilburn. Living in Lilburn, provides easy access proximity to the various activities Atlanta has to offer including the shopping, sports teams, and other attractions. Evann has gained an interest in music over the years, in fact she plays the trumpet. It was her trumpet teacher who told her to look into Florida State. Once Evann saw what Florida State had to offer, she realized it was the best option to double major in general music and business management. Evann plans to obtain her masters and then become a CEO or GM of a symphony or arts venue. In her short time here, Evann has become a member of the world-renowned Marching Chiefs. Being a Marching Chief comes with a large responsibility. It requires long, hard hours of tirelessly practicing in order to be at one’s best. Evann is normally running around working nine hours each day. With these long days, she is normally quite exhausted by the evening hours, but the hard work put in all makes it worth it. The hard work, sweat, and tiredness all lead to the glory of performing on the field at Doak Campbell Stadium in front of some 80,000. Evann takes a lot of pride in what she does as part of Chiefs as do many others at this university. It is traditions like these that truly makes Florida State University a special place.
Kerra Kuzmick was born on November 2nd, 1997. Her father was in the Navy so she moved around as a child but settled in Tampa Bay, Florida. In high school Kerra played basketball as a freshman and sophomore but transitioned to play flag football her last two years for fun but it ended up taking her to the state championship. Her junior year she went skiing in Utah during spring break. In high school she had a job at a gym called “Lifetime Athletics” in ‘operations’ or in layman's terms a janitor. When all of her fellow employees left she decided to find a new job herself. So the summer before College she worked with her friend Anna Randall at a local Law Firm. Defying everything she learned at the law firm Anna, her best friend, and Kerra decided to skydive. The car rolled to a stop and Kerra and Anna stepped out. To the reluctance of each pair of parent, they climbed into the plane and ascended to the desired altitude. The memories of the 60 seconds of free-fall, the five minute descent with the chute and gliding through a cloud-being enveloped in a thick white blanket-made it all worth it.
David was born on June 25th in Genoa, Italy. As a child born to a Dutch father and Italian mother living in Spain, he was surrounded by a variety of languages from a young age. When he was two his family moved to Madrid, Spain where he was taught Spanish in pre-school but by kindergarten he was living in the Netherlands. He attended first grade and part of second grade in Sicily after his family moved back to Italy. During his second grade year, his family decided to move to the United States. Moving to a new place can be difficult for anybody, especially moving to a new country with a different language. He spent the remainder of second grade home-schooled in Fort Lauderdale, Florida where he learned some English, then later moved to Boca Raton where he finished the remainder of his elementary school years. His home town in Cefalu, Italy, a town of 4000, was vastly different from his new home in Florida with over ninety thousand people. He was the new kid in school which was hard enough, but on top of that he was surrounded by classmates who spoke a different language. He had to take special English classes at the school and slowly began making more friends the more English he could speak. A year and a half after his family’s big move to the United States, David could officially speak English, had a multitude of friends, and played club soccer and little league. Throughout middle school he continued soccer and began wrestling in high school. He began the college application process during his senior year and decided on Florida State and became the first person in his family to attend college in the United States.
Tristan was born in small retirement like community called Niceville, Florida, and has lived there all of his life. In high school, Tristan was elected to the homecoming court twice. After being bullied in middle school for being some what different, it came as a shock when he heard his name called over the intercom for being elected to the sophomore homecoming court. Viewing this as a turning point in his life, his perspective changed and he was able to rise above the past. Tristan really found his core friend group in high school and his senior year in high school he was elected to the homecoming court once again. After coming to FSU Tristan has become close friends with his roommate. They recently went to Halloween Horror Nights and he would love to return one day. In the future, Tristan would like to be involved with computer science and become rich!
The process of moving from town to town, state to state was old news for Sarah Miller. Her father was in the military, regularly stationed overseas, and so her family moved around a lot throughout her childhood, never staying in one location for longer than 3 or 4 years. The moves included Louisiana, to Georgia, to North Carolina, back to Georgia, to upstate New York, to Florida, and recently to Virginia. It was only in February 2016 that Sarah found out about her father's newest job, meaning her family's newest location. After she completed her senior year of high school, graduated, and went to FSU orientation, her family would be relocating up to Virginia. This time, she wouldn't be there for very long, as she was starting at Florida State in the fall. Growing up, Sarah always loved science; this explains her current biology major with a pre-med plan. The night before a move is always a busy one - friends wanted to come to say their final goodbyes. Because of this, the last bits of packing were postponed until the morning of their departure. Sarah got up early on the day of the move and began to load the moving van. The moving day trip consisted of a moving truck to be driven up by her mom with her 8-year-old boxer dog, Ella, and her family's mini van that she and her sisters would ride up in. Sarah is one of three girls, with her older sister Katherine and her younger sister Laura. As her siblings and mother got up later, they helped her to finalize the organization. With the van packed, they headed out on the long drive to Stafford, Virginia, and after a two-day drive with a stoppage in a hotel along the way, they made their way to their new home.
Everett’s hometown was incredibly small. Small enough that his middle school had only about 50 students per grade. Everett didn’t let the size of his town or school keep him from having fun. Whether it was binge watching Netflix, a New Orleans Pelicans game or reading Game of Thrones, he always managed to find something to do. This opportunistic personality extended to high school as well. In his high school, the only one in town, he made the best of things by getting involved in debate and lacrosse. The biggest change in high school, however, came in his junior year. It was the time in his life that he first began to show the less introverted side of himself. The combination of choosing to take part in more extracurricular activities at school and attending a school with a larger class size led him to feel more comfortable being social. Being more comfortable in his own skin didn’t mean he suddenly wanted to stay in his hometown. Always looking for a way to make his life more fulfilling he set his sights much further away. His actual desire had always been to wind up in a city on the west coast. This is a great long term goal, but going out of state is expensive. In order to leave his small town and find an affordable college, he wound up at FSU. Not only did it meet his budget, but it also felt like a place he could be happy. Something that he considered to be much more important.
Mark Salters grew up right here in Tallahassee, Florida. Throughout his private school experience he enjoyed learning new things including history, social studies, and government. He enjoyed learning and analyzing situations rather than just memorizing definitions. By learning these methods and topics he has come to respect Abe Lincoln for his integrity and ability to respond to adversity. In fact, although Tally is a good town, he plans on broadening his horizon and moving to DC for the new opportunities and experiences. In the shorter future, Mark plans on running for Student Senate next year, and hopefully after college will attend grad school before getting into the political world and becoming a change maker. This all became possible because of his parents. His mom is from Boston, and Mark still follows all of the sports teams because he feels welcomed there. His father is from the Netherlands and Mark enjoys having those connections. Recently, he hit the milestone of his father gifting him a ring that his grandfather had given his father. With this lineage, Mark is well on the way to changing the world.
Stewart Gideon was born September 19th, 1997 in Palm Bay, Florida into a family consisting of his parents, two brothers, and a sister. He was homeschooled for elementary school, allowing time to grow as a family and as a student, without the normal distractions of elementary school. Going into 6th grade, he attended a magnet school. Once he reached high school, he was able to join the varsity swim team at his school. Stewart remained a part of the team for two years, but at the end of sophomore year, he quit, and took up the sports of cross country and track. On top of the sports he played, he also involved himself in many interest groups at his high school, and held a job. He began building up his resume with a job he loved. He worked at a pizzeria the summer between his sophomore and junior year. Further building up his resume, he worked at Win-Dixie for two years, starting as a bagger and working his way to Cashier. The summer before college, Stewart Gideon took a week off of work to take a trip with his two best friends to Jensen Beach. They spent time surfing, wandering the town, skateboarding, snorkeling, and lounging around on the beach, which was exactly what the group needed before heading off to college. At Florida State University, Stewart works hard to excel academically as he studies economics, while still holding home by sporting the colors of his favorite football team, the Jaguars.
After being born in Chicago and moving to Palm Beach during fourth grade, Jarrett Lopez-Scarim, the second o five children, attended a Magnet school for high school. A Magnet school is a public school that offers special instruction and programs not available to regular public schools. He felt that being at a Magnet school seperated him from a lot of people he knew growing up, but the self-proclaimed introvert thought this was not necessarily a bad thing. He felt more free to grow with the new environnment, and to pursue more of his goals to achieve his full potential. This helped him develop his work ethic that has lead to him already being involved in undergraduate research in his major, and wanting to pursue grad school in a larger city on the west coast. This work ethic also provides him with plenty of motivation when it comes to the all-important Netflix binges.
Alayna Bradley, a first-year student at Florida State University, was born in an unknown city in Pennsylvania. The 18-year-old was active since a young age, participating in many sports. While active, the country music loving girl has a very spiritual relationship with God. However, this was not always so. As a child, she attended a very strict catholic schooling system where she felt as if religion was being forced down her throat. Because of this, she began resenting religion to a degree. However, it was not until the 16-year-old Alayna went to her annual youth life camp during the first week of summer. The youth life camp was a time where her entire school left technology for a week by going into the woods where the students would enjoy playing games while also becoming closer with God. It was not until Thursday that Alayna’s life changed forever. After a preaching session, the students were told to go outside to find a place to sit and pray in silence. After deep thought, she was willing to give herself to God. From that moment on, Alayna’s perspective changed, and with this, so did her personality: her originally sour mood became happy and cheerful. Now, Alayna is very involved in her local youth life group where she loves to play games with her friends while furthering her faith. Her goal in life is to utilize her finance and human resources major to become a benefits manager. Her end goal, however, is to become a stay at home mom where she can take care of her children which she wants to be a mixture of kids she had herself and she adopted. She is excited about the life ahead of her where she will undoubtedly succeed.
Chandler Stockamp was born and raised in Pensacola, Florida. His dad is a surgeon and his mom is an interior designer. He is currently majoring in Biochemistry with the goal of following in his father's footsteps and becoming a surgeon. He enjoys working with computers in his free time. He also played tennis as a kid and still plays for fun. He played table tennis competitively in high school, and in fact, he was ranked seventh overall in the state of Florida. During his sophomore year of high school, Chandler began a service project in his nieghborhood where he would go out every two weeks for about two hours and collect canned foods or any donations people were willing to give him. One day while tutoring a student he had known for a while, the student asked Chandler if he was the student who continuously dropped food off at the food bank. Chandler had known this boy and his family. He didn't realize that his efforts would be helping his very own peers. Chandler has now taken that experience and allowed it to help him grow as a student here at FSU.
On November 13th, 1997 Daniel was born in Miami, Florida. His parents, Michael and Karen, were excited to welcome their second child into the family, at this time they had no idea what he would be able to do. When Daniel was 6 years old his family moved to Mexico.At the age of 6 you can not quite understand what someone having cancer is; however, when Daniel's mom was diagnosed with breast cancer he surely understood one thing: his life was going to change. It seemed so sudden but his family was packing up and moving, not just moving across the state or country, but to a different country, to Mexico.The long drive along the coast seemed to take an eternity, but when they arrived in Mexico Daniel could tell he was going to like it. Adapting was not easy at first. Over time Daniel was able to adapt and began to fit in with his peers in Mexico, he excelled in many areas. His school was very small, having only 150 kids spanning from 6th to 12th grade, so Daniel participated in nearly every sport. Playing soccer, flag football, field hockey, basketball, swimming, and running made for a very busy high school career, especially when he had to focus some time on his school work. Now, a freshman at Florida State University, Daniel is studying Finance and Risk Management; but, similar to many freshman he may alter his career path and change his major as his collegiant adventure continues. When in need of inspiration Daniel looks to his grandfathers, as they both lived the fulfilling lives that led to much enjoyment; that is just the type of life Daniel hopes to live- long prosperous and happy.
ReplyDeleteAmanda Lewis was born in Nashville, Tennessee at the ripe young age of zero. Her parents are divorced, and she moved to Florida with her mother when she was eight. For high school graduation, she got to go to Australia and New Zealand. This trip was a gift from her grandmother, and is one of the last memories she has of her. She was the youngest person on the trip at nineteen years old, with most of the tourists in her tour group being age fifty or older. She fondly recalls bungee jumping in New Zealand and snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef. She visited the Sydney Zoo but couldn't hold a koala as she intended to because it is illegal. In Amanda's opinion, New Zealand was prettier than Australia, on the basis that New Zealand has more mountains. She is now an exercise science major at FSU, is on the pole vaulting team, and plans on becoming a veterinarian, despite being allergic to cats. She dreams of settling down with someone and having one son, one daughter, and numerous dogs.
ReplyDeleteDelaney Harkins grew up in Birmingham Alabama with a loving family and a superior public education. During elementary school she was involved in a club swim team, swimming being choice sport until her fifth grade year. In middle school she became scuba certified, made all A's, and took up lacrosse. One of her favorite memories during this time was playing with her her cat and two dogs. She loved them like family, but she had a unique relationship with her dog Malibu. The day she turned thirteen, Delaney was with her family at their lake house at Smith Lake, Alabama. They were spending the afternoon knee boarding on their speed boat. While on the water, Delaney inhaled deeply of the fresh air and turned to look at the shore as they bounced forward. She noticed a dog on the shore and smiled. "If only my dog at home weren't so awful," she thought. The dog saw them too, and without warning, jumped off the the rocks and swam toward their boat. Her frame was emaciated from malnourished, but she was sweet and gentle. Moved with sympathy, Delaney's family took her to the vet and decided to welcome Malibu as their newest edition. She couldn't have asked for a better birthday present. Malibu become Delaney's companion as she entered high school, where she continued to play lacrosse became involved with the school's student government association. Delaney excelled and was eventually accepted into Florida State University, where she is currently studying to become a dentist. Even though she is busy with her classes and her extra-curricular activities, Delaney still makes time to go home to visit her family and to see Malibu, who continues to be an loving inspiration and a loyal friend.
ReplyDeleteJessica Pavlov was born and raised in Panama City Beach, Florida; the small town made her beyond happy and she couldn't dream of living anywhere else. She's played basketball her whole life, so when she tore her ACL her junior year of high school, she was devastated. She had to spend a lot of time in the operating room and unfortunately, her surgeries were troublesome and she couldn't play basketball anymore. Deeply upset, she worked through her emotions, and it took a bit, but she got over the bad situation and has moved on. She's still unable to play the sport, but she'll always cherish the times when she could. Going into college, she had a lot to consider; her older sister, who is her biggest role model, is at UF and although she also got accepted to the University, she wanted to be different from her sister, so she chose to come to FSU instead. Here, her role model is her big in her sorority Delta Gamma. Both her and her big are in the science field so she feels a strong connection to her because they both have to study hard for their majors. Jessica aspires to be an orthodontist when she graduates because she had this one friend that had bad teeth and was insecure about them, but when he got his teeth fixed, he started smiling a lot and just seemed genuinely more happy, so she wants to be an orthodontist to make people happy. She plans on starting her practice in Florida, and plans on staying here for the rest of her life because it's where she grew up and she loves in here. She's extremely excited for the future and can't wait to see where life is going to take her.
ReplyDeleteJordan Via was born in Northport, Florida, but he doesn’t really consider Northport his home. He moved to Venice, Florida at a very young age and it is this city, just south of Tampa on the west coast, that he spent the many “interesting” years of his childhood. He may not have had much of a connection with his father while he was growing up, but he did have one of his most memorable experiences with him while he was in the fifth grade at Pineview. The school itself was incredibly small considering that grades 3 all the way to 12 were taught there with just about 2,000 students. Jordan’s graduating class was one of the biggest that the school had ever seen, with just 270 students, and so he recalls knowing every single person in the class by name, if not every person in the upper grades. While Jordan was in the fifth grade, he took a states and capitals test that he had to have signed by his father. But when he got home to give the test to his dad, Mr. Via was dozing in dreamland, so it took a while for him coaxed from his slumber to sign the paper. That should have been the end of the story. However, Jordan’s father had been so engrossed in getting his rest that he had simply made some scribbles on the paper, and Jordan’s teacher leapt at what she thought was academic dishonesty. “You forged your father’s signature!” she cried. Jordan then did exactly what a fifth grader who was just trying to get his work done would do at that point: he cried. According to Jordan, his father stormed into the school the next day and “ripped [his] teacher a new one” for accusing his son of something that he was completely innocent of. Not all of Jordan’s experiences there were so dramatic though. It was also the place where he took AP Macroeconomics, where he had an “awesome teacher” who gave the class tons of “personal attention.” It was one of the main reasons why Jordan decided to become a Finance major when came to FSU, a place so utterly different from Pine View as far as size goes that it was initially shocking.
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ReplyDeleteCassidy Ross is a girl trapped between the lines—state lines, that is. When asked where she’s from, unlike most people, she doesn’t get the luxury of a simple one-name answer. For Cassidy, home is not a place, but a story.
That story begins in Birmingham, Alabama, a relatively small city but still the largest in the state. There, she lived with her older half-brother, her mother, and her father, with her grandfather just a short drive away. It was with him, at his little house tucked away in the woods, that some of her fondest memories would grow.
One morning in particular stands out in her mind. She had woken up early, just in time to watch the sky turn pink above the black silhouette of the trees. She thought maybe after the sunrise, she’d fall back asleep, but the sound of someone puttering around in the kitchen drew her from her room.
She caught her grandfather just as he was leaving the kitchen. Upon seeing her, he gave a raspy, “good morning” and nodded in the direction of the front door. She followed him out to the front porch and over to their usual spot, where he sat his coffee on the table and told her he’d be right back. Not expecting anything out of the ordinary, Cassidy took a seat at the other side of the table and waited.
Her grandfather returned promptly, carrying in his arms an old, discolored globe. He sat the globe on the table between them and said to her, “This was your father’s, once.” Cassidy swallowed back the burn of grief. She’d lost her father when she was just four, but the mere mention of him still resonated in the hollow space behind her ribs. However, when Cassidy watched her grandfather spin the globe, his eyes sparkling with childlike joy as he jabbed his finger on random countries, something warm bubbled up to fill the hole.
They made a game of it—spinning the globe, tapping locations, making up plans for their travel to every corner of the world. Cassidy would become a bit of a wanderer herself, living in two more states before even graduating high school. Even then, she’d only seen a small part of a great big world, full of strange places and even stranger people. But looking back, she realizes the whole world could be one little house in Alabama, wrapped in the enclosure of the trees and bathed in the pink light of sunrise, and still be enough.
Erin Christopher has always been a unique intellect, taking her education to the next level. As she grew up, her education took her many places. Through elementary and middle school, Erin faced many obstacles as she dealt with bullying. Luckily, for Erin, this built a strong sense of character. Her sense of creativity led her into a world of wonders as she began explore her writings to come up with the most intriguing stories. As a small child, her parents could almost always find her with a pencil or a crayon developing and giving life to a story. What was meant as a hobby sparked a flame in Erin. This flame burned inside and she then realized that she was called to be a writer. The best way for her to live a full life and enjoy her future was to pursue a career in writing. In the beginning, she had not intended on pursuing a career I'm creative writing and had originally had an eye for the science field. Erin and her mother began looking at art school, and Erin knew at that moment that she made the right choice. As she progresses her writing, she allows others to guide her to see different angles and is always absorbing new approaches into entice her audience. If there is an epidemic, Erin Christopher is writing about it and continues to spread her creativity to as many people as possible.
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ReplyDeleteAnnaJane Hand was born at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital on May 20th, 1998. She was the first born child of her young parents, who went on to have four more children. She had a very close and loving relationship with her family members and grew up in Tallahassee, receiving her education as both a homeschooler and as a student of a private Catholic school. In her free time, AnnaJane picked up ballet and tap dancing, as well as soccer and horseback riding. In her middle school years, she was mostly homeschooled in a community environment where her and other students would come together. It was during this same time period that AnnaJane found a passion for swimming and met her best friend, Gigi Fontenot. She also became more involved in her youth group during middle school, specifically during seventh grade. During the summer before seventh grade, AnnaJane went on a religious retreat to Camp Covecrest in Georgia with her Catholic youth group, and took part in frequent group prayer. One evening, AnnaJane was praying with her group by a lake amidst the mountains, and felt a presence. This was the first time she felt God’s energy and his love for her. This life-changing experience prompted AnnaJane to find her true calling: she decided to dedicate her life to serving God. This experience caused her to become further immersed in her faith, and followed her since. After a few very meaningful years of middle school, AnnaJane transitioned to high school, which was her first experience with public school. Throughout high school, she continued her devotion to swimming and her youth group. She never strayed away from her academics, as she graduated Magna Cum Laude and got accepted to the Florida State University Honors College. To this day, AnnaJane is still an exemplary student and is very involved in the Catholic Student Union.
Keegan was born in Lakeland, Florida on July 17, 1998. His family lived in Plant City, Florida for the first four years of his life before moving back to Lakeland, where they still currently reside. Their household consisted of his parents, his younger sister, and their family dog named Pipkin. Growing up, Keegan always had many interests, but he found his true passion in sports. He participated in soccer, basketball, baseball, flag football, and golf over the years and his interest in sports has inspired him to major in actuarial science with the hope of pursuing a career in sports analytics and statistics. Even though his sports experiences are a big part of his life, one of the most impactful experiences in Keegan's life had nothing to do with athletics. The summer before his junior year of high school, Keegan went on a school trip to Europe with 30 students from his school and 7 adults. During the trip, they went to Madrid and Barcelona in Spain, followed by several stops in France, and finally Florence and Rome in Italy. The trip lasted for 12 days, and they explored many modern attractions as well as historical locations like churches and monuments. There were many amazing sights and experiences, but the highlight of the trip for Keegan was getting to see the Vatican, Seeing a major cultural and religious hub like that in person allowed him to see the world in a different way than he ever had before and will continue to be one of his most memorable experiences throughout his life.
ReplyDeleteOriginally from the West Coast, Amber Chu began the Floridian lifestyle at age 7. Amber and her sister were the only Chinese students in her elementary school. Finding somewhere to fit in, Amber started dance. She immediately fell in love and has been dancing ever since. Not only is Amber a dancer, she is also a musician. Attending an art school, Amber can play the flute. With all of her many talents, Amber hopes to represent a big company that will enhance the relationship with China and America in her future. Moving to a different country sounds intimating but Amber has already spent a summer away from home. Going into her senior year of high school, Amber Chu packed her bags for two months of that summer and flew over to Taiwan to teach kids English. The program Amber participated in recruited participants from all over the world. Amber created lasting bonds with people from Europe and Australia. Thousands of miles away from home, Amber wasn't all alone. Her grandparents live in Taiwan and Amber was able to visit them during her stay. This experience was life-changing for Amber and she can't wait to go back.
ReplyDeleteJeff Beck is a branch manager for a construction company called "Top Build" and Laurie Beck is a stay at home Mom. Sara Beck is their middle child. Sara was born on the 30th of September, has an older brother and a younger one as well. Sara lived in the Atlanta area before moving to Ormond Beach, North of Daytona, when she was very young. It is always difficult to abandon your home, move to another place, and redefine your identity based off of where you live. Sara had to go through this change of space and had to learn to adapt. It is a common misconception to think that South Georgia and North Florida have the same customs , but even though they do share many things they have even more distinct characteristics that set them apart. Sara's home changed, and so did she.
ReplyDeleteSara went to Spruce Creek High School where she took 4 years of Spanish, fell in love with Tennessee Williams, her favourite author, was part of the IB program, and enjoyed Economics class the most. Sara's good grades and academics payed off when she was given a spot in the Honours College at Florida State University. So, after being part of a graduating class of 750 peers, classmates, and close friends, Sara said goodbye to her home, and head off to Tallahassee, Florida to double major in Business Management and Exercise Physiology. Now, even though its her first semestre, Sara has big plans for herself in the future. Sara has thought about Studying Abroad, or volunteering abroad. Sara has been to many places around the world, but would like to add more countries, cities, and experiences to her list.
Evann was born in Atlanta, Georgia and has lived there her whole life in a little suburb called Lilburn. Living in Lilburn, provides easy access proximity to the various activities Atlanta has to offer including the shopping, sports teams, and other attractions. Evann has gained an interest in music over the years, in fact she plays the trumpet. It was her trumpet teacher who told her to look into Florida State. Once Evann saw what Florida State had to offer, she realized it was the best option to double major in general music and business management. Evann plans to obtain her masters and then become a CEO or GM of a symphony or arts venue. In her short time here, Evann has become a member of the world-renowned Marching Chiefs. Being a Marching Chief comes with a large responsibility. It requires long, hard hours of tirelessly practicing in order to be at one’s best. Evann is normally running around working nine hours each day. With these long days, she is normally quite exhausted by the evening hours, but the hard work put in all makes it worth it. The hard work, sweat, and tiredness all lead to the glory of performing on the field at Doak Campbell Stadium in front of some 80,000. Evann takes a lot of pride in what she does as part of Chiefs as do many others at this university. It is traditions like these that truly makes Florida State University a special place.
ReplyDeleteKerra Kuzmick was born on November 2nd, 1997. Her father was in the Navy so she moved around as a child but settled in Tampa Bay, Florida. In high school Kerra played basketball as a freshman and sophomore but transitioned to play flag football her last two years for fun but it ended up taking her to the state championship.
ReplyDeleteHer junior year she went skiing in Utah during spring break.
In high school she had a job at a gym called “Lifetime Athletics” in ‘operations’ or in layman's terms a janitor. When all of her fellow employees left she decided to find a new job herself. So the summer before College she worked with her friend Anna Randall at a local Law Firm.
Defying everything she learned at the law firm Anna, her best friend, and Kerra decided to skydive. The car rolled to a stop and Kerra and Anna stepped out. To the reluctance of each pair of parent, they climbed into the plane and ascended to the desired altitude. The memories of the 60 seconds of free-fall, the five minute descent with the chute and gliding through a cloud-being enveloped in a thick white blanket-made it all worth it.
David was born on June 25th in Genoa, Italy. As a child born to a Dutch father and Italian mother living in Spain, he was surrounded by a variety of languages from a young age. When he was two his family moved to Madrid, Spain where he was taught Spanish in pre-school but by kindergarten he was living in the Netherlands. He attended first grade and part of second grade in Sicily after his family moved back to Italy. During his second grade year, his family decided to move to the United States. Moving to a new place can be difficult for anybody, especially moving to a new country with a different language. He spent the remainder of second grade home-schooled in Fort Lauderdale, Florida where he learned some English, then later moved to Boca Raton where he finished the remainder of his elementary school years. His home town in Cefalu, Italy, a town of 4000, was vastly different from his new home in Florida with over ninety thousand people. He was the new kid in school which was hard enough, but on top of that he was surrounded by classmates who spoke a different language. He had to take special English classes at the school and slowly began making more friends the more English he could speak. A year and a half after his family’s big move to the United States, David could officially speak English, had a multitude of friends, and played club soccer and little league. Throughout middle school he continued soccer and began wrestling in high school. He began the college application process during his senior year and decided on Florida State and became the first person in his family to attend college in the United States.
ReplyDeleteTristan was born in small retirement like community called Niceville, Florida, and has lived there all of his life. In high school, Tristan was elected to the homecoming court twice. After being bullied in middle school for being some what different, it came as a shock when he heard his name called over the intercom for being elected to the sophomore homecoming court. Viewing this as a turning point in his life, his perspective changed and he was able to rise above the past. Tristan really found his core friend group in high school and his senior year in high school he was elected to the homecoming court once again. After coming to FSU Tristan has become close friends with his roommate. They recently went to Halloween Horror Nights and he would love to return one day. In the future, Tristan would like to be involved with computer science and become rich!
ReplyDeleteThe process of moving from town to town, state to state was old news for Sarah Miller. Her father was in the military, regularly stationed overseas, and so her family moved around a lot throughout her childhood, never staying in one location for longer than 3 or 4 years. The moves included Louisiana, to Georgia, to North Carolina, back to Georgia, to upstate New York, to Florida, and recently to Virginia. It was only in February 2016 that Sarah found out about her father's newest job, meaning her family's newest location. After she completed her senior year of high school, graduated, and went to FSU orientation, her family would be relocating up to Virginia. This time, she wouldn't be there for very long, as she was starting at Florida State in the fall. Growing up, Sarah always loved science; this explains her current biology major with a pre-med plan. The night before a move is always a busy one - friends wanted to come to say their final goodbyes. Because of this, the last bits of packing were postponed until the morning of their departure. Sarah got up early on the day of the move and began to load the moving van. The moving day trip consisted of a moving truck to be driven up by her mom with her 8-year-old boxer dog, Ella, and her family's mini van that she and her sisters would ride up in. Sarah is one of three girls, with her older sister Katherine and her younger sister Laura. As her siblings and mother got up later, they helped her to finalize the organization. With the van packed, they headed out on the long drive to Stafford, Virginia, and after a two-day drive with a stoppage in a hotel along the way, they made their way to their new home.
ReplyDeleteEverett’s hometown was incredibly small. Small enough that his middle school had only about 50 students per grade. Everett didn’t let the size of his town or school keep him from having fun. Whether it was binge watching Netflix, a New Orleans Pelicans game or reading Game of Thrones, he always managed to find something to do. This opportunistic personality extended to high school as well. In his high school, the only one in town, he made the best of things by getting involved in debate and lacrosse.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest change in high school, however, came in his junior year. It was the time in his life that he first began to show the less introverted side of himself. The combination of choosing to take part in more extracurricular activities at school and attending a school with a larger class size led him to feel more comfortable being social.
Being more comfortable in his own skin didn’t mean he suddenly wanted to stay in his hometown. Always looking for a way to make his life more fulfilling he set his sights much further away. His actual desire had always been to wind up in a city on the west coast. This is a great long term goal, but going out of state is expensive. In order to leave his small town and find an affordable college, he wound up at FSU. Not only did it meet his budget, but it also felt like a place he could be happy. Something that he considered to be much more important.
Mark Salters grew up right here in Tallahassee, Florida. Throughout his private school experience he enjoyed learning new things including history, social studies, and government. He enjoyed learning and analyzing situations rather than just memorizing definitions. By learning these methods and topics he has come to respect Abe Lincoln for his integrity and ability to respond to adversity. In fact, although Tally is a good town, he plans on broadening his horizon and moving to DC for the new opportunities and experiences. In the shorter future, Mark plans on running for Student Senate next year, and hopefully after college will attend grad school before getting into the political world and becoming a change maker. This all became possible because of his parents. His mom is from Boston, and Mark still follows all of the sports teams because he feels welcomed there. His father is from the Netherlands and Mark enjoys having those connections. Recently, he hit the milestone of his father gifting him a ring that his grandfather had given his father. With this lineage, Mark is well on the way to changing the world.
ReplyDeleteStewart Gideon was born September 19th, 1997 in Palm Bay, Florida into a family consisting of his parents, two brothers, and a sister. He was homeschooled for elementary school, allowing time to grow as a family and as a student, without the normal distractions of elementary school. Going into 6th grade, he attended a magnet school. Once he reached high school, he was able to join the varsity swim team at his school. Stewart remained a part of the team for two years, but at the end of sophomore year, he quit, and took up the sports of cross country and track. On top of the sports he played, he also involved himself in many interest groups at his high school, and held a job. He began building up his resume with a job he loved. He worked at a pizzeria the summer between his sophomore and junior year. Further building up his resume, he worked at Win-Dixie for two years, starting as a bagger and working his way to Cashier. The summer before college, Stewart Gideon took a week off of work to take a trip with his two best friends to Jensen Beach. They spent time surfing, wandering the town, skateboarding, snorkeling, and lounging around on the beach, which was exactly what the group needed before heading off to college. At Florida State University, Stewart works hard to excel academically as he studies economics, while still holding home by sporting the colors of his favorite football team, the Jaguars.
ReplyDeleteAfter being born in Chicago and moving to Palm Beach during fourth grade, Jarrett Lopez-Scarim, the second o five children, attended a Magnet school for high school. A Magnet school is a public school that offers special instruction and programs not available to regular public schools. He felt that being at a Magnet school seperated him from a lot of people he knew growing up, but the self-proclaimed introvert thought this was not necessarily a bad thing. He felt more free to grow with the new environnment, and to pursue more of his goals to achieve his full potential. This helped him develop his work ethic that has lead to him already being involved in undergraduate research in his major, and wanting to pursue grad school in a larger city on the west coast. This work ethic also provides him with plenty of motivation when it comes to the all-important Netflix binges.
ReplyDeleteAlayna Bradley, a first-year student at Florida State University, was born in an unknown city in Pennsylvania. The 18-year-old was active since a young age, participating in many sports. While active, the country music loving girl has a very spiritual relationship with God. However, this was not always so. As a child, she attended a very strict catholic schooling system where she felt as if religion was being forced down her throat. Because of this, she began resenting religion to a degree. However, it was not until the 16-year-old Alayna went to her annual youth life camp during the first week of summer. The youth life camp was a time where her entire school left technology for a week by going into the woods where the students would enjoy playing games while also becoming closer with God. It was not until Thursday that Alayna’s life changed forever. After a preaching session, the students were told to go outside to find a place to sit and pray in silence. After deep thought, she was willing to give herself to God. From that moment on, Alayna’s perspective changed, and with this, so did her personality: her originally sour mood became happy and cheerful. Now, Alayna is very involved in her local youth life group where she loves to play games with her friends while furthering her faith. Her goal in life is to utilize her finance and human resources major to become a benefits manager. Her end goal, however, is to become a stay at home mom where she can take care of her children which she wants to be a mixture of kids she had herself and she adopted. She is excited about the life ahead of her where she will undoubtedly succeed.
ReplyDeleteChandler Stockamp was born and raised in Pensacola, Florida. His dad is a surgeon and his mom is an interior designer. He is currently majoring in Biochemistry with the goal of following in his father's footsteps and becoming a surgeon. He enjoys working with computers in his free time. He also played tennis as a kid and still plays for fun. He played table tennis competitively in high school, and in fact, he was ranked seventh overall in the state of Florida. During his sophomore year of high school, Chandler began a service project in his nieghborhood where he would go out every two weeks for about two hours and collect canned foods or any donations people were willing to give him. One day while tutoring a student he had known for a while, the student asked Chandler if he was the student who continuously dropped food off at the food bank. Chandler had known this boy and his family. He didn't realize that his efforts would be helping his very own peers. Chandler has now taken that experience and allowed it to help him grow as a student here at FSU.
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