Who Am I, and What Am I Doing Here?

My name is Samantha Rhynard. I am a college freshman at Northeastern university. I played water polo in high school , and I also ran the band's color guard (the flags that follow the band around in parades), in addition to being the band director's TA and french horn section leader all four years. I have always had an interest in books and reading, and I have been trying to get back into the habit of reading when I have free time, because in high school I had a lot of book lag, where I would forget to bring the book I was reading with me, or just not bother so it took me a really long time to read one book (I do think that I have made an improvement in that category, because this past semester I read 10 books). I grew up in California for the most part, with a 4 year sojourn to Franklin, MA. Because of the moves to and from Mass, I am accustomed to flying from Boston Logan airport to SFO, SJC, and OAK. I have travelled abroad to Italy and Greece (Italy was better), and I have been across the US more times than I have bothered to count. I am comfortable on planes and in water (from my experiences with water polo and throughout my life), I do not like running, but I feel that I should be getting more exercise than I do. I do my best to eat healthy, but I eat when I am bored as well as when I'm stressed, so the odds are not usually in my favor.  I am currently in several clubs here at Northeastern, which range from book club to rock climbing club to NUEMS to the pre-PA society. I like to think that I am a fully functional (if not competent) adult, whether or not that is actually the case I don't know.

I am here in many capacities (one of note is that I filled out the "I am Here" form at the beginning of the semester to say that I will be attending classes). I am at Northeastern University to learn a variety of things; I am here to get my degree in health science with a concentration that I hope will impress the PA schools I want to attend as a graduate student. I am here to meet people and gain insight into how the world works through the experiential learning that happens when one is in college. I am here for my friends, when they are going through rough times to remind them it will get better; I am here to be helpful (if I can be) in any way possible. What I am doing here is related to who I am, because who I am is someone who wants to grow up to be a helpful member of society, and what I'm doing here is learning how to be helpful, and doing my best to be helpful as I learn.