Hi All,
As I sit in my dorm room and type on my computer for the final time this semester, I would like to take a few moments to reflect on the past academic year. I just completed my freshman year of college, two semesters that seemed to fly by, and experienced a great deal of new and exciting things.
I learned a lot, made a lot of new friends, went to a great deal of Penn State football games (including when I flew out to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl), saw the Penn State Men’s Basketball team win on numerous come from behind occasions and buzzer beaters, went to Madison Square Garden (twice) to see Penn State be crowned champions of the National Invitational Tournament, participated in the largest student run philanthropic effort in the world (THON – a 46 hour straight no sitting, no sleeping dance marathon which raised $7.49 million for pediatric cancer research), saw Sarah Palin speak, shook Bill Clinton’s hand, listened to Madeline Albright, started throwing in field events, competed in field events in Myrtle Beach (and will compete in Oklahoma in June in field events and handcycling), played Wheelchair Basketball on a team for the first time, and improved my skiing greatly.
That is a great way to live life – take the lemons that life gives you and make some delicious lemonade. I would have never done a quarter of the aforementioned things had I not followed the above philosophy.
I think I took advantage of almost everything college could throw my way. I hope that I have half of the great opportunities again when I return to Happy Valley in the fall.
College is truly a great thing – not just for the academics, but for all the opportunities and challenges it presents you with. It prepares you for the game of life.
I challenge all of you to take advantage of the opportunities that life throws your way and see how far you can go.
- Tracker
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“Many of life’s failures are people who had not realized how close they were to success when they gave up.” - Thomas A Edison
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Michael was diagnosed with a mild case of arthrogryposis at birth. He is unable to gain any muscle tone below the knee, and his ankles are both fused at a 90 degree angle. This has hindered his ability to ambulate without the use of forearm crutches. When he was 9 years old, he began learning to ski at the Adaptive Sports Foundation. Now a freshman at Penn State and a member of the ASF Race Team, he is an avid athlete.
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