Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Greetings from a Wheaton Graduate!


Hi there! My name is Megan and I just graduated from Wheaton! Yeah class of 2008! It's so hard for me to believe that four years flew by so quickly. Anyway, I just thought that I would talk a little bit about my Wheaton experiences and my four years as a Lyon!

Your first question is likely "Where are you from?" I have moved all over the country, and my claim-to-fame is that I have swam in three different zones (East, South, and West)...I have trouble answering that question!!! I went to high school in California and Florida is home again now! I will miss the New England seasons, and while I like the warm weather, I am so glad that I had the opportunity to live in and to experience another region of the country!

People often ask me why I choose Wheaton in the first place. Wheaton was the perfect choice for me because it's a great combination of challenging academics and a great community atmosphere! I love that I was able to swim on a very competitive varsity team, while still able to participate in other aspects of campus life! I had been swimming synchro since the age of 7, so when I came to Wheaton, synchro was still a big part of my life, but it wasn't my whole life. The team was an additional support which helped to ease my transition to campus life.

I was captain of the team and a resident advisor since Sophmore year and was an admissions tour guide and intern my last two years as well. I definately enjoyed being busy! Prospective students also ask me about the time committment of being on the team. We usually started team practices in early October and finished our season the end of March or into April. We practiced Monday through Friday, with the weekends off! I found that my time mannagemnt was always better during the season because I had other committments and had to get my work done in a timely fashion!

As an International Relations major and Economics and Latin American Studies minors, I was able to spend the past two summers abroad, in Chile to study at a local university and Costa Rica to volunteer at a community center and live with a local family. I was a Community scholar, so in addition to the scholarship I recieved, I got a stipend which helped to cover my expenses in Costa Rica!

This year was Rebecca's first as our coach, and she did an amazing job of making the transition! She challenged us daily and it paid off at all of our meets! One of my favorite things was the energy and positive attitude that she brought to practice every morning...it never ceased to amaze me! I am so excited to see what is in store for the team in the future!

Another question I have gotten a lot recently is "what are you doing now?" I will be starting a Masters program in International Business at the University of Florida in a few weeks! I also plan to help coach the local age group team in Gainesville so that I can stay involved in synchro. I doubt that I will have much free time during the program, but I definately want to swim masters synchro in the future!

I hope that I haven't confused you all terribly with my rambling! Please let me know if you have any additional questions. Rebecca knows how to find me! I encourage you all to learn as much about Wheaton as possible, as it is such a unique and incredible place! Best of luck with your search! Go Lyons!

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