Personal Statement
My name is Marc Oliver Smith and I am matriculating from St. Stithians Boys College in Johannesburg South Africa. I am 18 years old and I dream of playing water polo at the college level in the USA and simultaneously getting a great education.
I am blessed that I have always had an affinity for both sports and academics. My parents exposed me to various sports and always encouraged me in my academics. This helped me to lay the path to where I am today.
As I said I was exposed to multiple sports in my life but found joy in the swimming pool since I was 6. My love for water has only grown since. I found great success in swimming at both a club and national level where I was ranked in the top 5 in multiple events when I was 15. However, that was not my true passion. I started playing Water polo when I was 12 and first felt apprehensive about it. But over the years my love for polo slowly blossomed and surpassed my love for swimming when I won my first tournament when I was 15. Since then, I have made national, provincial, and club sides and have participated in many tournaments where I have made multiple tournaments teams and individual awards, such as MVP on 2 separate occasions. But winning awards and tournaments isn't why I play sport, as no matter what happens, my passion and love for it will always shine through. No matter how sick, upset, or busy I am, I always find a way to get in a pool.
Academically I have been sound since primary school and continue to be so. I have had a 4.0 GPA for my entire high school career. I take the following subjects: Information Technology, Physical Sciences, Life Sciences, English Home Language, Mathematics, AP Mathematics, and Afrikaans. I have a deep liking for IT, Physical sciences, Life Sciences, and both Core and AP Maths. I have ranked consistently within my year's top cohort of students, often placing within the Top 10.
Another quality that I believe defines me is my leadership. I am the captain of both the Swimming and Water Polo teams and am currently an executive prefect at my school. I was also the president of The Interact Committee which is a service committee where we raised funds for various charities, and to top it off, my year was one of the most successful years in the history of this committee.
