Ryleigh Erickson '20 Recruiting Profile

Throughout my life I have been able to overcome weaknesses that I have and raised other strengths beyond what I thought I could. I have learned self discipline, enhancing it by setting goals and focusing my metal and emotional energies. I have also learned perseverance and patience by trying and trying until I succeed. My social skills have also been improved because I have learned how to communicate effectively and appropriately. Growing up I played many team sports such as soccer, volleyball, and basketball. These team sports taught me the important lesson of working together to reach the same goal. It taught me to rely and trust others, accept others mistakes, praise their efforts, and grow healthy friendships with those I played with. Through golf these skills have been boosted. 

I became interested in golf the year my parents placed my brother and I in the local golf camp. From there my love grew. Practicing everyday and taking lessons with my brother had become a staple in my life. I connected to golf through and with my brother, and now he has shown me why I choose to play it. 

I had to step out of my comfort zone many times, many of which made me step up and become a leader. When I was a young girl I started to join different organizations that would make me active in my community. I am a practicing Catholic and always want to grow in my faith. I joined the Junior Catholic Daughters of America when I was 12 years old. It is an organization with girls aged 6-18 who want to help each other grow in their love and faith in God. I am now the President of JCDA and help organize meetings and what we will be doing, charity events, and fundraisers.  For my work I am a church sacristan. I assist the priest in the mass and gather all people needed to make the mass run smoothly. If any emergency arises I am the one to go to and need to be ready for any circumstance. I am also a leader in golf. I am my golf team captain and have been since my freshman year. Coming from a small town and small high school my school did not have a golf team. As a freshman I started the team and recruited members. 

As a child my interests included playing with playdoh in the hope of creating something beautiful. Accomplishing patterns while employing my mind and hands thrilled me and complimented my personality. With a dream of a lovely smile being carved; aiming to make a positive difference, dentistry has elicited a strong response in me. Learned through research, dentistry is personally fulfilling. Helping people stay healthy and giving them a better outlook on their appearance shows how dentists grow a person’s view on themselves. Lifelong learning is made through this field by the possibility of what is to come tomorrow. 

More about myself includes loving the outdoors including hunting, fishing, and archery. I enjoy practice shooting with a rifle, as I am a member of the NRA. I love spending time with my family, traveling the world together and making lifelong memories. I enjoy reading and watching movies. And discussing these movies with my friends and those who I watch them with. I look forward to being in cold weather because of where I live in South Texas, or as I like to call it Northern Mexico. And I thrive under pressure, in school or in everyday circumstances.