Anna Touitou '18 Recruiting Profile

Winter is when it happened.  Since elementary school, I had been a soccer player.  I often played halfback – a sprinter’s position– but never gave much thought to running apart from chasing down a pass or opponent.  Encouraged to try something different by my friends and parents, I joined winter track for the 2016-17 winter season.  At first, it was just something that kept me busy after school.  But, as my experience grew, with each event I became more excited by my improving performance.  The challenge of setting and meeting my individual expectations – and helping advance my team - made track and field different for me.  Unexpectedly, it also influenced the way I strived to improve in other areas of my life. 

        In school, I have challenged myself by studying hard and striving to earning high grades.  In 2016, I was inducted into my high school’s chapter of the National Honor Society based on my grade point average. It was very rewarding to be recognized, but, with new, more difficult classes this year have come new challenges. With the lessons I learned about persistence in track, I continue to strive for academic growth and improvement.

Outside of school, I have volunteered to help others less fortunate than me.  I serve as a volunteer at a therapeutic horseback riding organization that works with special needs children.  In their own way, those children too are striving to meet the challenges they face.  Helping them meet those challenges requires the same persistence and goal-oriented focus that track has helped me develop.  

Although I am still a newcomer to the sport of track and field, the lessons I have learned have helped me adapt and meet the challenges in all areas of my life.  Whenever I have moments of doubt, I always imagine myself running on the track and racing to the finish line.