There were many reasons why I picked STAC, the most important to me being:
I signed to a Division II Lacrosse Team
It had the major I wanted – Biochemistry
I was a part of the Honor’s Program. (As an added bonus, the head of the Honor’s Program was also Head of the Biochemistry Department.)
The size of the school was small
What I didn’t realize, is that some of the very reasons I picked the school were also reasons why I would want to leave. I started to find the size to be too confining, the general science classes didn’t peak my interest, and lacrosse was really taking a toll on me.
I was always in a toss up between wanting to stay due to the friends and the academic scholarships I had, and wanted to leave because I was truly unhappy.
This is the main reason that I believe the mental health of people is far more important than anything else. In order to have a happy life, you need to be the top priority. The best decision was leaving STAC, because it was unhealthy for me mentally. Everything else comes second.
This summer I experienced a very big personal growth. I focused on myself more than I have before, making decisions that made me happy before thinking about the rest, Of course, I still considered the consequences to these decisions…and whichever outweighed is the one I went with.
While at STAC, I had made a group of friends that I experienced some pretty big highs and lows with. I had my set people, all of which came from different backgrounds, that I relied on.
They knew that I wasn’t happy at STAC, but they also didn’t want to let me go. My best friends there said that they were going to support me no matter what I decided. Right before the Corona Virus shut down the college, we were all hanging out and I had told them all that I had decided to stay.
I went back home, finished the semester, and focused on my family and working. However, I couldn’t get the feeling out of my stomach that I was making the wrong choice by going back. I already had my roommate situation set up, everyone believed I was coming, but I just didn’t feel good.
I had been looking at other colleges since February. UNE was the only school that I truly wanted to go to. So, I put my transfer application in. And I got in, and decided I wanted to come here.
But I still had some unfinished business to attend to before I could fully be happy with my decision. Telling my friends. I was so worried to tell them I was transferring because I didn’t want them to be upset at me. Yet, they weren’t when I told them. They knew I was unhappy at the college and wanted what was best for me. I still talk to them, and we facetime almost every week.
I know I’ll always have them as friends, and that it was time for me to move on to a different place. You can grow from experiences, and the true friends you meet will last a lifetime.
One of the main reasons I chose STAC was to be on the lacrosse team. I wanted to get away from home, but I was worried I wouldn’t have anyone to fall back on – and that I wasn’t going to make friends as I was starting new, completely on my own.
But I wasn’t completely alone. I had my lacrosse team, even if I wasn’t close to them. We were together almost 24/7 due to our strict schedules – as I had mentioned before, Division 2 took everything seriously.
During the fall semester, we had practice from 7AM-8AM in the morning. The rule of being at the field 15 minutes before practice meant that I was up at 5:45 and out the door by 6:15 three days a week. I would go to practice, go to 4 classes back to back, shower, do homework, and go to sleep.
The other two days were spent lifting in the afternoon, after classes, with our strength and conditioning coach.
The spring semester brought more challenges. During the long three weeks of preseason, we had double practices 6 days a week. Conditioning would be taken care of in the morning, doing different running styles in the gym. After classes we would have practice, which involved a lot more running than lacrosse.
My start did not begin at UNE, or even in Maine. It started in Upstate New York.
During high school I was extremely devoted to lacrosse. I’ve been a Goal Keeper since 8th grade, and have played since 5th. I was on travel team called the Central New York Elite Lacrosse Team, or CNYELC for short. I played for three years on the team and it helped me get recruited in college.
This lead me to the St. Thomas Aquinas College Women’s Lacrosse team. This division 2 program was very rigourous.
I quickly learned that STAC wasn’t the place for me – so put in the time and effort to find the right school for me – UNE!
