Friday, October 24, 2014

Oh, so fancy.

This past week was definitely one for the books. Early in the week, my soccer coach surprised us by telling practice on Wednesday night was cancelled because he had more important plans for us, (immediately I think we're running or doing something else miserable and hard) but then, he surprises us again and informs all 29 of us that we were formally invited to President McInally's house for team dinner. We spent the next couple days practicing extra hard and chattering nonstop about how excited we were. Wednesday finally arrived and I experienced one of the coolest memories of my college career.

President McInally and his lovely wife and son were waiting outside as our caravan of hungry (always hungry) soccer girls pulled into their long driveway. We were greeted with handshakes and name tags and quickly welcomed inside to one of the most beautiful houses I have ever been in. Sizzling pasta and chicken, salad, bread, veggies and cupcakes were waiting for us as we all found seats throughout their house and simultaneously looked around in awe. We ate delicious food until we were stuffed, talked, told stories and laughed until our tummies hurt.

After dinner, we all met in the President's living room and spent a while individually introducing ourselves and telling him our plans for the future. It was then President McInally's turn to discuss the future as he chatted about the Eby Fieldhouse renovation plans, ideas for expansion and other ways to continue to better Coe College. As we said our thanks and filed out of the President's house, we personally invited him and his family to our home game that upcoming Saturday.

We all headed back to our busy lives on campus feeling extremely grateful for the opportunity we just experienced and began focusing on Saturday's game against Simpson College. As our team got wrapped up in the process of taking on the Simpson Storm, we almost forgot about our invitation to President McInally. But he did not. As I looked up in the stands before kickoff, I saw Mr. and Mrs. President McInally walking into the stadium and finding a seat in the dead center of the bleachers. They both sported their Kohawk Soccer scarves for the whole 90 minutes they were there cheering us on to a 2-1 victory.

As if all this love and support wasn't enough, we walked to our locker room after the game to hear our coach's post-game speech to find President McInally standing in the center of the room clapping and congratulating us all on an important conference win. He thanked us for working so hard and wished us luck in the rest of the season before yelling congratulations one more time and heading home.

President McInally left our whole team standing with huge smiles on our faces, pride swelling from our hearts and an even deeper love for our school - After all, it's not every day the President of your college serves you dinner and gives your post-game speech. How lucky are we?


Kohawk Women's Soccer team at President McInally's house for team dinner!

Happy Friday and much love,

Hannah

Friday, October 10, 2014

Time Flies

Hi everyone!!

As I sit in the Admissions Office writing this today, I can think about nothing but how shocked I am that is already Fall Break! Fall Break signifies we are approximately halfway through first semester, meaning there are only 11 more Fridays until Christmas...WHAT?! Holy cow does time fly when you're having fun ;)

I have an exciting Fall Break ahead of me as my soccer team will be traveling to Waverly, Iowa on Saturday to participate in Beat Wartburg week. Our Kohawk volleyball team started the week out right with an important victory, our football team is planning on keeping the excitement going Saturday morning with a W on our home field, and then the men's and women's soccer teams travel to Wartburg to finish Beat Wartburg week with another big rivarly win!


Because we don't have classes on Monday or Tuesday, after my soccer game I get to head home for a day or two to visit my dog (and parents and sisters I guess), catch up on some sleep and stock up on groceries and warm clothes. Fall Break always seems to come at just the right time in the semester - with midterms and paper deadlines quickly approaching, naps are definitely needed!
Penny is ready for me to come home for Fall Break!

With the weather getting colder and colder, I've been taking some time to reminisince on how much has already happened during my junior year - Homecoming, beating a nationally ranked team, and decorating my new, cute apartment with my awesome roommates being some of favorites. This first quarter of the school year is already packed full of hilarious, happy, stressful memories and I am excited to be able to share them all with you!


Happy fall!
<3,
Hannah



Thursday, October 2, 2014

My Journey to Coe

I will be the first to admit I was not the greatest at the whole "choose a college" thing in high school. I wasn't super thrilled about the idea of leaving home where my laundry was always done for me, I always had food available and classes were pretty easy.

I knew I wanted a smaller-sized college and wanted to stay somewhat close to home (I have to be able to see my dog at least four times a semester), but that is honestly all I knew. I didn't know what I wanted to major in, if I wanted to continue my career as a soccer player, or if I wanted to live in a big city or small town. I had convinced myself I would be happy no matter where I ended up and therefore did an absolutely terrible job looking at colleges. When I went on college visits I paid attention to two things and two things only: the food in the cafeteria and the quality of the showers in the bathrooms.

However, all that changed the moment I stepped onto Coe's campus. All of the sudden I was excited about college and all the experiences that would come my way. I felt so comfortable with everyone I met and was thrilled about the ideas my admissions counselor had for my future. Coe's food and showers easily passed my tests, quickly making Coe one of my top choices going into the second semester of my senior year of high school.

Beginning to feel panicky about not yet knowing where I was going to college, I came back to Coe for Scholarship Weekend in February. Within seconds, I texted my mom and had her cancel any other college visits I had scheduled. Everyone I had met on my first visit to Coe remembered my name, what I wanted to major in, who my parents were and even that my dog was the cutest thing on the planet. I knew right away that I was wanted at Coe for who I was, not for any test scores or high school GPA. Coe wanted my personality and desire to learn, they wanted me to come to Coe to better myself. I knew I was not going to simply be a number here; I was going to be cared for, cared about and, most importantly, pushed to become better.

Turns out, my high school self was pretty smart and everything I thought about Coe that weekend was completely true. I am not a number here at Coe; my professors, coaches, and peers truly care about my successes and my happiness.

Although I may not have done everything right in my college search process, I definitely made the right decision.


But really… How cute is she? 

See you all next week for another update on the life of a Kohawk! 
XOXO,
Hannah