The Start of Something New

By no means am I a talented writer. Ask any of my high school English teachers, and they will probably let you know that my writing is average at best. That being said, I decided that despite my poor writing skills, a blog would be the best way to share my experiences over the next year with anyone who was at all interested for one reason or another. This site will allow my friends and family to share in my experiences, stay updated on all the crazy things I plan to do in the next year, and support me on my service trips! Before I begin writing about the exciting things to come, I wanted to reflect on the amazing senior year I had and my choice to take a gap year.

Over the past year, I have gotten to do some pretty great things with some wonderful people. In the fall of 2017, I had the opportunity to play on a soccer team with my best friends, who by the end of it became my family. Not only did I have the most fun soccer season ever, but the team won our section, were WPIAL runner-ups, and completed the season with a State Championship title (the first in the history of Shady Side soccer).

As I was visiting and applying to colleges, and as soccer season came to an end, I realized that I would not be able to go the next four years of my life without playing the sport I loved. I joined a club team in December and started reaching out to the coaches of the schools I was a applying to. As a senior almost half way through the school year, my recruitment process started pretty late compared to most. I was accepted to Lake Forest early-action in the winter, and began talking to the women's soccer coach. I visited in February, loved the campus, team, and coaching staff, but still wanted to keep my options open. After hearing back from other schools, and talking to other coaches, I decided Lake Forest was the right fit and committed in April.

Over the winter, I played soccer and hockey, and my hockey team finished second in the league. Playing what I knew would be my last hockey game was bittersweet, and I am thankful for all of the friends I made through the sport. I wouldn't trade those people, road trips, or memories made for the world. One of my favorite memories from the season was being able to travel to New York City for the Women's March while we were playing in Princeton, NJ.

After an amazing spring break trip to Cabo, Mexico with two of my best friends, track season was in full swing. As it was only my second year doing the sport, I was unsure of how much I would enjoy running circles everyday. But as the season progressed, I loved running more and more. As I was thrown into the middle-distance group and told I would be running in the 4x800, I was less than thrilled and thought my coaches were a bit crazy. Apparently they saw something that I could not, because our 4x800 won our section, WPIALs, broke the school record multiple times, and finished fourth at states. Our 4x400 and my open 400 time both finished second in the section as well.

While all of my crazy sports schedules were in full swing, I had been talking to my parents, college counselor, and friends about the possibility of a gap year, or taking a year off of school between high school and college. I have always loved traveling and helping others, and I thought that there would be no better time to explore the world through service and travel. As I made my decision concrete, I deferred my enrollment at Lake Forest until the 2019-2020 school year. Over the next 11 months or so, I will spend time working and saving money, and then later seeing what the world has to offer, while doing service domestically and abroad.

Thanks for taking the time to come on this journey with me! Subscribe to receive updates on new posts!

Much love,

Hannah

WPIAL Championship

Captains!

State Champs

Women's March NYC

Women's March NYC