Marielle Rodriguez '23 Recruiting Profile

My name is Marielle Rodriguez. I am a senior at Mamaroneck High School and a varsity diver on our swim and dive team. My dream currently is to dive at D1 or D2 university or college. As well as to become a veterinarian. Since I was 11 and first introduced to diving it has always fascinated me. The ability to jump off of a board to do dives with more than 2 flips or twists. It's something to be proud of. However, I won't deny I have had some troubling times with diving and my ability to learn a new dive. Having my coaches and teammates by my side has always pushed me to improve. My father always tells me that diving is 1% actually doing the dive and that 99% is you thinking about it. I think this is the truth. I know I can do the dive. It's always me thinking about how I could get hurt or I can’t get enough height. In the end, I work past the fear and I learn the dive. 

Along with my goal as a college-level athlete, I aspire to be a veterinarian. I love animals and I love helping animals. My field of choice is Veterinary Science. The reason for this is because of my experience with animals throughout my life. While I didn’t always have dogs I grew up with family members who had dogs; my grandmother for example. Though when I moved from Forest Hills, Queens, living in an apartment to Mamaroneck, NY, to a house during 4th grade. We rescued a Plott hound, Connor, when I was in 5th grade. In 2018 we rescued another Plott hound mix, Coco. They are still with us and are loved unconditionally. I love my dogs and animals in general. My other experiences with animals were when I went to West Virginia to the horse farm my Cousin works and helped take care of horses. This included cleaning the stalls, washing the horses, feeding, and moving them from different pastures. I love to ride and have ridden with my cousin in West Virginia, my cousin in Brewster, NY, and ridden with a family friend in the Catskill mountains upstate NY. I also vividly remember watching various vet shows with my mother like Dr. Dee and Dr. Pol. I was always fascinated by how doctors can take care of so many animals across the state they live in. I was also very fascinated by how they understand people with little money and recognize that some people can’t pay the ridiculous prices of different vet services. As someone who is Hispanic and grew up around my Puerto Rican family, I understand how poverty affects people with animals. When I first visited Puerto Rico I was destroyed by how many sick stray dogs there were. I can remember having a thanksgiving dinner with my family and going outside to play with my brother and cousins and seeing stray dogs and cats that are starved to the bone, blind, and limping. We gave the dogs and cat food but that was all we could do. I remember my brother and I being so sad we cried over the condition of the dogs and how we couldn’t do anything else. Once I have my PhD in Veterinary Science I am planning on going back to Puerto Rico and starting my own practice to help animals in need. To me this is not a dream, it is a goal and something that I will achieve in the near future.