Born and raised in Minnesota, I have spent my fair share of time in the snow and mainly the cold. After spending nearly 500 hours a year snowboarding or training for snowboarding, I will always keep those times close to heart. However, it still surprises that, for some reason, people still think Minnesota is cold year-round. I’ll never understand that.

Anyways, snowboarding was an escape as a kid, almost like an alternate reality to me. Despite the stress I went through preparing for competitions, there was never a dull moment. I competed from the age of seven until this past year. I have competed in semi-professional competitions all around the country, and I will forever be grateful for those experiences. However, I finally had the eye-opener moment where I realized I was not invincible and needed to be more careful. Towards the end of my snowboard season in 2018, I stress-fractured my back but continued to snowboard for the next month until it developed into a full fracture. After this, I went on to spend months in physical therapy. I knew that I had to finish out the next season, and then I could take a step back, so that is exactly what I did. However, this time, I tried to enjoy the little things just a little more; taking trips with my family and friends, the meetings, and overall riding around all became a little sweeter.

Snowboarding has always been such a big part of my life and shaped who I am today, but I needed a change, so I decided to step back from pursuing a career in snowboarding. Flash-forward 18 months later, and here I am, attending school at the University of Georgia as an intended finance major and forever thankful I took the risk to snowboard competitively in the first place. However, I am even more thankful I decided to put education first.