By Narra Georges
“…I don’t want to end up regretting spending six years of school for a job that I absolutely hate…”
“Why college?”
“So I didn’t even want to go to college. My mom persuaded me to go to try it out. I had a full time job right after high school and I was about to take it. She said that she didn’t want me missing out on anything and that I’d like it. So that’s the only reason why I’m here. I didn’t even want to go to Fitchburg State. It’s too close to home. I had no intention of even going anywhere near where I live.”
“Which professor has had the greatest impact on you and why?”
“Dr. Rice from the Exercise and Sports Science department I have to say here. Wait, does it have to be from college or just in general?”
“Yeah, whatever you want.”
“Well, there are two. In high school, it was my physics teacher, Phillip J. Moore. He was like my go to guy with every single family problem that I had. He would sit and listen. I feel like a lot of people have the notion that teachers are perfect beings. Typically, no one is perfect, but he definitely showed me a lot. He taught me how to just listen. I don’t think I would have ever made it through high school without him if he didn’t listen to me. He’s one of few adults whose advice I take seriously. I don’t listen to many people, but him I will. Secondly, I would say Dr. Rice here at Fitchburg State. I wasn’t really the greatest student, but he definitely had faith in me and said that I was going to do well. That really kept me going. You know when someone says that you have potential, you don’t want to disappoint them, and I definitely did not want to disappoint him. I definitely got a second chance in my major and I never want to waste the efforts of those who tried to keep me in the program.”
“What scares you most about going into the real world after graduation?”
“Failing. That’s like the worst thing I could possibly ever think of, just failing. It’s not even about ‘Oh I’m not gonna get a job’ or something like that. It’s just that whatever I do, I work so hard for. If somebody tells me that I’m not good at it, I don’t want to end up regretting spending six years of school for a job that I absolutely hate and wasting time when I could’ve been doing something completely different.”
“Do you ever have those ‘Is this really what I want to do with my life?’ moments?”
“Every single day. I always ask myself that question, ‘What do I want to do for the rest of my life’? I’ve realized that after being a runner for a long time and just always being active, that I could help athletes or anyone who’s active. I could help them prevent injury or help them to just know their own body better so they can help themselves. It’s worth it because if you’ve ever been an athlete and couldn’t do what you love doing for a majority of a season, it’s mentally exhausting and actually pretty heartbreaking. I’m pretty dedicated to running, so the fact that I couldn’t do it last season made normal things like walking upstairs awful. It just really puts things into perspective and shows you that you’re not Superman. So if I can just help athletes recover quickly or learn how to take preventative measures so injuries don’t happen, it will all be worth it.”