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As
a freshman entering Michigan Tech, I had no idea of the challenging
but beneficial journey I was about to venture unto. I knew I wanted
to be a Mechanical Engineer, and, after spending a summer with
General Motors, I knew that was where I wanted to begin my career.
Starting Tech, I was a
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young
kid with a very common view of the college experience; I was ready
for social hour, the wild parties, the challenging workload, and
the growth of my foundation to begin. I wanted to be an athlete,
I was ready to grow as an individual, and I was ready to depart
from my high school, 
My
first lesson would come on the tennis court. I went from playing
number one singles for 3 years in a row, co-captain for one year,
and captain for the following two years to not even holding a
position. I went from first to last in a matter of one week. Throughout
my first year, I found myself in the process of learning the competitiveness
of college sports. In high school, I remember complaining about
running one lap for warm ups. In college, that was a joke. We
ran two laps for warm ups, stretched, played very competitively
for two hours, and then ran harder for conditioning after practice.
I was not prepared for this and I began to think maybe this was
not for me. Reality had struck. I would not be an exceptional
athlete. I can remember many days when I wanted to give up. I
had an undefined role on the team, and I believed that I would
not be missed. But I knew I would miss the sport. I wanted to
be a college athlete, and I wanted to be successful at it. The
game that I had fallen in love with freshman year of high school
was now reaching new limits, and I was having a hard time remembering
what aspects of the game I had loved, and what I would miss if
I gave it up. 
To
make a long story short, I stayed with it, but what I failed to
realize is that sometimes you need to do more than just staying
with it. You need to go after it. I went to practice everyday,
but I never put in extra time. I had a longer rope to climb, but
I was not pushing myself to climb faster, so that I, along with
my teams, would reach the top at the same time. I would always
be a step behind. As I improved the team did as well. Therefore,
I was stuck in the same situation. If you find yourself behind
or beneath someone else, you must work twice as hard to catch
up—not pass them—just to catch up. That’s just
the way life is, something I am still learning today, not just
on the tennis court, but in every aspect of life, especially academics.
If I want to be successful, I truly need to put in the time to
get there along with my colleagues. 
