Playing, Learning, Growing at Kenyon

I played at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio my freshman year of college. It's a school about 2 and a half to 3 hours away from home but it had its positives. It was a new Ivy League school which meant that my degree would look very nice and it would be very challenging for me. Probably one thing that impressed me most on my visit was the amazing new athletic facility. The $150 million facility was just opened midway through the season prior to my arrival and it rivaled many small division 1 schools in its size and ammenities. I loved the coach more than anything. She visited me at my high school my senior year and talked with me for 3 hours as we sat cramped up in an empty guidance counselor's office. The minute I left our meeting and went back to class, I was ecstatic. I knew I wanted to go to school there and couldn't wait to tell my parents, coaches, and friends about the school and everything it had to offer. More than anything, I couldn't wait to visit the school, meet the team, and see them play. The campus was everything I had hoped and more. It was beautiful, so beautiful, in fact, that my freshman year, CosmoGirl voted it the most beautiful campus in America. It's old, gothic looking buildings are gorgeous, with stained glass windows and statuettes everywhere. Middle Path is a gravel path that runs from one end of campus to the other, a mile long that stays lit up so you can walk it at all hours.

The year that I spent here made me so much more aware of people and diversity. My roommate was from London, England. Girls in my hall hailed from Orange County, California to Chicago, from Boston to Nashville, from New York to Africa. Kenyon Lady basketball taught me to love diversity, be patient and tolerant of other people's values and differences, and to appreciate and love where I came from. Being away from my family made me appreciate them so much more. I thought my senior year that more than anything I just wanted to get out of Milford and go as far away as I could get. It proved to be wrong. I wouldn't see my parents for months and when they did come bearing gifts, it was like Christmas came early. I never called my mom and dad so many times or got so many letters and packages in the mail. I love and miss my Kenyon Ladies and all my friends from far-off places. I miss that diversity and community feeling. It seems that basketball has led me to some pretty crazy places. I would have never known about Kenyon yet alone spent a year of my life there if I wasn't interested in playing college basketball and my coach had never come to my high school to talk and visit with me. It's crazy how something as simple as basketball can take you to so many places, allow you to meet new people and teach you so many things.