Kayla Shea '23 Recruiting Profile

My life is focused on education, family, sports, and friendships. These attributes have proven to help support my personal growth and development while continuing to push me to excel in everything I challenge myself with. My current goal is to earn the best opportunity to attend a competitive and challenging university to further my education and sporting career. 

In school, I challenge myself to take difficult and demanding courses to prepare myself for the future. My favorite classes are math and science, so I joined Camp Invention in grade school and really enjoyed the environment, learning experiences, and opportunities it offered me.  I returned as a volunteer camp counselor to help give the younger kids the same experience that I had.

My family has always been so supportive of anything I strive to take on.  We are also a very active family.  My parents both played soccer as kids and continue to do activities today. My mom runs marathons and went to Boston the year it was bombed, it was terrifying, but the next year she went back to Boston and ran the race again. This has taught me to not let fear get into the way of something I love doing and has driven me to excel in academics and sports. My dad is a legacy Ironman which means he has completed at least 12 Ironmans and is going to compete in the Kona Championship. When I see my dad racing it motivates me to compete harder and accomplish the goals that I set for myself in life. 

I grew up playing many sports, I mainly focused on swimming and soccer. Swimming and soccer both require endurance, mental, and physical strength. In 5th grade, my parents signed me up for a cross country camp, I thought the sport was just not for me, but then I went back again in 6th grade and fell in love with the sport. I knew that cross country was the sport for me because you compete as a team and encourage one and another to do your best, but you also compete individually. As a runner, you always want to run your best race and that requires extra work and time. Since 8th grade outside of my regular team training schedules, I have done additional athletic training programs to accelerate my performance. When I entered high school I made my athletic focus and goals solely on cross country and track.    

During sports and school, friends come and go, but the ones you can always count on stick by your side in good and bad times, and those are the people I choose to surround myself with. We have fun and memorable times, but they all make me a stronger more well-rounded person. 

With this strong foundation, I am confident that I am primed and ready to make an impact in the classroom and on the racecourse in the next chapter of my life. With my vigorous work ethic and strong will to grow and improve I am excited to contribute to a great culture at your school.