Austin Smith '22 Recruiting Profile

In elementary school, I didn't do much other than just school, so I started to look for a sport for winter. I found swimming, tried it out and it worked pretty well. My effort from the ages 8 to 10 was minimal and my coaches recognized that. One of them pulled me aside after practice one day and told me if I put in the effort I could go somewhere with this. In the summer of 2015 this thought really kicked in. I started putting everything I had into practices and getting better. As of now, I can say that significantly improved my work ethic in things other than just sports. Academicly speaking, I keep up with my classes well and usually do not struggle understanding concepts. This work ethic boost also helped me set long term goals. I wanted to finish high school with at least a 95% (3.8)gpa and I want to go to college and learn more about my major. Now as an 11 year old I had no clue what I was really saying. But now that I'm two years away from it, I much more clearly see that it is possible. My biggest achievement I believe is to push through things when they're either not fun or are hard. I see life as a very long term thing so the minor inconveniences I have shouldn't affect my thinking in that moment.  I'm very excited to see what college is all about and to get to meet new people who I'll be with for the next 4 years of my life.