Lindsey is a home-school graduate with a 4.37 GPA. She was a competitive gymnast throughout her high school years and will attend North Carolina State University in the Fall
"Choose an experience from your own life and explain how it has influenced who you are today"
by Lindsey Kunz
"Dedication, perseverance,
commitment; my passion for gymnastics has produced these qualities and many
more. Since I was ten years old I have
trained four hours a day, five days a week, every single week of the year. I have learned how to manage my time, make
necessary sacrifices, and master the art of discipline. The experience of being a gymnast has not
merely impacted my life; it has shaped it, and it is through the lens of this
training that I have come to view life.
Over the past seven years gymnastics has taught me that with hard work
and dedication every goal is attainable, that with perseverance and commitment
every obstacle can be overcome, and that it is never too late to have a new
goal.
The first lesson gymnastics
has taught me is that if you work hard and dedicate your time and effort, every
goal can be achieved. My coach once told
me that the difference between a dream and a goal is a plan. His words have permeated my mind and affected
my decisions on a regular basis.
Everyone has dreams, and anyone can wish, but the individuals who create
a plan to succeed are the ones who set themselves apart and do great
things. When I began gymnastics I made a
commitment to myself to be the best gymnast I could be. That didn’t mean winning every competition or
doing the hardest skills, but putting forth my best effort in everything I
did. I learned how to win humbly and
lose graciously, and I learned that self-motivation is the key to success. All of my hard work and dedication came to
fruition this past summer when I was invited to participate in an international
gymnastics exchange program in Singapore.
I was able to travel half-way around the world, experience a completely
new culture, and train with elite coaches from six different countries. All of this resulted from my day to day
efforts of being the best gymnast I could be.
I had a dream of becoming a level ten gymnast and representing my
country, and because of my plan and the commitment to give my best effort every
day, I was able to achieve this goal.
However, no goal
can be achieved without perseverance and discipline. The second lesson that gymnastics has taught
me is that with perseverance, every obstacle can be overcome. The path to attaining my goal was composed of
rocky terrain that left me cut and bruised on numerous occasions. I had to fight my way back from two surgeries
and many more injurious setbacks. Those
experiences showed me that I am the only person I can control, and that it is
better to put my energy into my own actions than into worrying about what other
people are accomplishing around me.
After my most recent ankle injury, the probability of me competing that
season was not in my favor.
Nevertheless, I focused solely on my own progress and remained
determined to work hard each and every day.
Through my perseverance and discipline, I experienced the great joy of
accomplishing what others said I could not do, and competed in the last three
competitions of the season.
Despite the first
two invaluable lessons that gymnastics has taught me, the last lesson has had
the greatest impact on my life.
Gymnastics has ultimately taught me that it is never too late to
redefine your goals. After being
recruited for a year and a half in hopes of competing in gymnastics
collegiately, I came to the conclusion that I wanted to pursue an education at
the school of my choice, rather than an athletic experience at a school chosen
for me. Upon this realization I altered
all of my previous goals by deciding to retire from gymnastics during my senior
year so that I could spend time preparing for my near academic and professional
future. Even though it was painful to
let go of my previous goals, I have learned to have an open mind and embrace
the opportunity of creating new goals that will shape my new future. While I now eagerly anticipate a new
direction in my life, I will take with me always the lessons that being a
world-class gymnast have instilled in me wherever I go."
