After graduating high school, most students know where they want to spend the next four years of their lives. For me, that wasn’t the case.
During the fall of my last year in high school, I wasn’t sure where I wanted to go for college, but I had an idea of what I wanted to do for a career. My mom, who is the person I look up to, told me about Adelphi University in Garden City, N.Y. In the spring, I attended the accepted students day and decided to spend my next four years there. Or so I thought.
During the summer, I attended a camp that the lacrosse team held to see if I was good enough to walk onto the Division II team. I was not. This made me lose confidence in myself because I thought I was a good athlete and tried to prove myself to the coaches in hopes of joining their team. This was the first red flag that I should’ve noticed, but I didn’t.
The fall of 2018 came, and I packed up my things to start the next four years of my life. I was terrified but also happy to start a new journey. My roommate at the time was from Italy and is a member of the women’s soccer team at Adelphi.
The semester started and I had a hard time making more friends than the ones I had already made from orientation that took place in August. This was the second red flag.
I continued the semester slowly making new friends, but I also went home almost every weekend because there was nothing to do on campus. This was the third red flag.
I jokingly told my friends at the time that I thought about transferring and they didn’t really say anything. I then talked to my parents about the possibility of me transferring and they immediately supported my idea because they knew that I did not like it at Adelphi.
Before I knew it, it was already Thanksgiving break and I decided to look at just one school. That school was Sacred Heart University.
Being only 45 minutes away from my house, I made the decision to finish the semester at Adelphi and then continue my college career here at SHU. It was the best decision I’ve ever made.
I cultivated my passion for playing lacrosse by joining the club lacrosse team and was given the nickname “Jerry” my freshman year. My dad attended my first game and he always calls me that because of an Instagram account called “Jerry of the day”. This account posts people that fail at sports like skiing, snowboarding, wakeboarding, etc.
Club lacrosse has brought nothing but joy to my life, and I am sad that our season was cut last year due to the pandemic. I was able to relate to other athletes because I was in the same position as them. Not only was I able to continue playing the sport I loved at SHU, but I was also able to find a group of people that I could not only call my friends, but also family.
If I could go back in time and do this whole process over again, I would. This sounds crazy, I know, but I truly believe that I found myself here at this school, and I would have had a different outcome if I stayed at Adelphi.
