Erika Pietrzak '21 Recruiting Profile

My parents and the people I have come in contact with have shaped me as a person. I love to be a leader on my team, being vocal both on and off the field, and I love to help others as much as I can. I volunteer once a week during the fall and spring to help kids with Down Syndrome learn to play soccer along with helping them better their interactive skills. Furthermore, being a vocal leader has brought me to be parts of protests and marches, such as the Women's March (2017) and the March for our Lives (2018). Having a very athletic mom pushed me into sports early on and my club soccer career began in 4th grade after I realized how much I enjoyed playing World Cup with my friends at recess. Through soccer, I have learned how dedicated I can be and how much sports like soccer make me feel free. I have also learned how to take control of a situation and how to work with people around me in a more efficient, better way.

As a player, I pride myself on my foot skill and confidence with the ball at my feet that I credit to my experience playing futsal with coach Devin Payton. As a student, I would love to continue to be placed in the highest level courses and explore my interests in high school. In college, I hope to dive into at least one of the majors I have interest in and hopefully go onto graduate school (or vet school) after my college career. I am also seriously considering the military for after I finish my academic career. Being a young woman, I have grown up underestimated and thought to be less intelligent or not as good as others in sports. I have worked very hard to get to where I am today and prove to others that gender has nothing to do with how amazing a student-athlete can be. I hope to continue my career in college playing at a high level that will challenge me to become the best I can while also being challenged in the classroom. 

Note about my academics: At the end of the summer before my Junior year (2019), I was diagnosed with ADHD after the discrepancy between the ease at which my classmates and I do work grew. As I got put on medication for my ADHD and began to be treated for my numerous other mental health problems, my grades skyrocketed, as you can see in my 0.64 growth in my weighted GPA from sophomore to Junior year. Though I did not do poorly during my first two years in high school because of the hours of work I put in every day, my freshman and sophomore year GPAs do not truly reflect my ability. Through my experience, however, I now work harder than most young adults my age and I feel as though this translates in the classroom and on the field.