Carmela Roberts '12 Recruiting Profile

Running is my passion in life. I am going to continue with this sport through college and hopefully after that. I have many aspirations for myself in this sport.  Track is not just a sport to me and it isn’t something that I am just good at or simply enjoy doing, but rather a place where I find serenity and peace with myself. It inspires me to be stronger physically, emotionally, and most critically, mentally. Because of track I believe I have developed focus and determination in all areas of my life. I hope to go really far in my track career (take for instance, going to the Olympics), but I am also enjoying every hardship and success that I must endure in the present in order to reach any higher goals that I set for myself. 

Academically, I am interested in pre-med because of my experiences as a lifeguard in the Junior Lifeguard Program at Twin-Lakes beach in Santa Cruz, CA and Lifeguarding at Simpkins Family Swim Center. Currently I am a Lifeguard at the community pool where I also teach swim lessons. The past three years as a lifeguard combined with my participation in competitive sports has influenced my strong interest in biochemistry and medicine. I want to teach people how to prevent injuries and illnesses. From the many rescues that I have gone on, from preventing a child from swimming in a rip current to swimming a boat out of the swimming zone, I have found that I am capable of carrying out appropriate actions under stress. In other words, I am able to react efficiently and calmly under pressure.

I have also displayed my interest in the health of others in other environments as well. For example, as the captain of my cross country and track teams, I make sure I lead a thorough warm up and I try to teach my teammates about new ways to stretch and new agilities in order to prevent any sort of injury. I aspire to become an allopathic doctor with a chiropractic and homeopathic license. I will have my own office for my homeopathic and chiropractic practices and also the ability to go to the hospital for my patients.  I want to combine these types of medical traditions because I value a holistic approach to health. 
My two favorite races are the 400M and 200M. Since I was a freshman I have been competing at the varsity level for these two events as well as the 100M, 800M, 4X100M, and 4X400M. Each year I get better in speed and mental toughness in each of these events. This past season I pulled my hip-flexer and one of my front quads playing soccer which jepardized my Junior year track season. This past season really tested my mental strength and dedication to track. Each day I would go to practice and persistantly work on my physical ability to run again. By the end of the season I was able to compete in the CCS semi-finals for my 4X400M team and got my personal record for my split of 59.02.

I am interessted in schools that have high academic reputations. It is also very important that I run in college. Size isn't particularly important to me, however the schools that I have been looking at are fairly large. I plan to apply early admission to Stanford University and I have already met with the head coach Edrick Floreal and he has agreed to let me try out for the team if I am admitted. I am also thinking about applying to many of the UC schools such as UCLA, UCSB, UCSD, UC Berkely. Other schools are on my list include: Duke, Oberlin, Pomona, Smith, Columbia, Vassar, and Emory.
With regards to financial aid, it will be a huge part in my college decision. I will apply to as many financial aid scholarships as possible. My family has absolutely no savings for college because of extenuating circumstances beyond our control; in fact I have had to help with bills multiple times. 
I am a hard worker and I thrive off of pressure. When I set goals for myself I complete them. I have been systematic in my goal setting by making smaller goals and reaching them to eventually get to the highest level. Although reaching my goals are enormously important, nothing can take away from the significance and great impact the journey is for reaching my goals in my life.